Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates Catalysed by Chromium and Aluminium Salphen Complexes

José A Castro-Osma; Michael North; Xiao Wu

doi:10.1002/chem.201504305

Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates Catalysed by Chromium and Aluminium Salphen Complexes

Chemistry. 2016 Feb;22(6):2100-2107. doi: 10.1002/chem.201504305. Epub 2016 Jan 7.

Authors

José A Castro-Osma¹, Michael North², Xiao Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
² Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK. Michael.north@york.ac.uk.

PMID: 26743787
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201504305

Abstract

Chromium and aluminium salphen complexes have been found to display remarkable catalytic activity in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from a range of epoxides and carbon dioxide. The Al(salphen) complex is more reactive towards terminal epoxides at ambient temperature and pressure, whereas the Cr(salphen) complex exhibits higher catalytic activity towards more challenging internal epoxides at elevated temperature and pressure.

Keywords: aluminium; chromium; cyclic carbonates; epoxides; homogeneous catalysis; salphen ligands.