Metal-Free Alternating Copolymerization of CO2with Epoxides: Fulfilling “Green” Synthesis and Activity
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Chemical Science ProgramKAUST Catalysis Center (KCC)
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Polymer Synthesis Laboratory
Date
2016-08-26Online Publication Date
2016-08-26Print Publication Date
2016-09-07Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/622428
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Polycarbonates were successfully synthesized for the first time through the anionic copolymerization of epoxides with CO2, under metal-free conditions. Using an approach based on the activation of epoxides by Lewis acids and of CO, by appropriate cations, well-defined alternating copolymers made of CO, and propylene oxide (PO) or cyclohexene oxide (CHO) were indeed obtained. Triethyl borane was the Lewis acid chosen to activate the epoxides, and onium halides or onium alkoxides involving either ammonium, phosphonium, or phosphazenium cations were selected to initiate the copolymerization. In the case of PO, the carbonate content of the poly(propylene carbonate) formed was in the range of 92-99% and turnover numbers (TON) were close to 500; in the case of CHO perfectly alternating poly(cyclohexene carbonate) were obtained and TON values were close to 4000. The advantages of such a copolymerization system are manifold: (i) no need for multistep catalyst/ligand synthesis as in previous works; (ii) no transition metal involved in the copolymer synthesis and therefore no coloration of the samples isolated; and (iii) no necessity for postsynthesis purification.Citation
Zhang D, Boopathi SK, Hadjichristidis N, Gnanou Y, Feng X (2016) Metal-Free Alternating Copolymerization of CO2with Epoxides: Fulfilling “Green” Synthesis and Activity. Journal of the American Chemical Society 138: 11117–11120. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b06679.Sponsors
King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyPublisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)PubMed ID
27529725Additional Links
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacs.6b06679ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/jacs.6b06679
Scopus Count
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