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Recent progress in the catalytic transformation of

Cite this: Green Chem., 2021, 23,
carbon dioxide into biosourced organic
1077 carbonates
Vatcharaporn Aomchad, a,b Àlex Cristòfol, a Francesco Della Monica, *a
Bart Limburg, a Valerio D’Elia *b and Arjan W. Kleij *a,c
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Cyclic organic carbonates are among the most widely studied targets in the nonreductive conversion of
carbon dioxide using oxiranes as the common reaction partners. Apart from using fossil fuel based pre-
cursors, recent developments have shown that biomass related feedstock can also serve as coupling
Received 11th November 2020, partner for CO2 allowing the preparation of more functional and complex types of carbonate architec-
Accepted 21st January 2021
tures. This tutorial review places this latter development in the current context of new and more sustain-
DOI: 10.1039/d0gc03824e able material designs, and highlights the main types of biomass that have been examined using primarily
rsc.li/greenchem homogeneous catalysis approaches.

1. Introduction been utilized to prepare cyclic carbonate structures including

glycerol, fatty acids, terpenes and carbohydrates (Fig. 1).
Cyclic organic carbonates, more typically denoted as cyclic car- Here, biosourced feedstock is defined as those starting
bonates (CCs), have become a major target in the area of cata- materials produced by the growth of microorganisms, plants
lytic valorization of (waste) carbon dioxide.1–8 The most or animals or derived thereof.28,29 Each of these specific cat-
common way to prepare such carbonates is through the coup- egories of biocarbonates is shortly introduced followed by a
ling of epoxides and CO2,9–11 a reaction that has reached a detailed description of the state-of-the-art. Mechanistic details
high level of sophistication thanks to the development of on the formation of CCs from CO2 and epoxides are provided
improved catalysts,12–16 and new concepts.17–19 A more recent where necessary, since this topic has been recently and exten-
trend shows a shift towards the use of biosourced feedstock in sively reviewed.30 This article thus summarizes the most fre-
the synthesis of organic carbonates, i.e., so-called bio-carbon- quently used feedstock to build biobased organic carbonates
ates. These biosourced carbonates are believed to give new serving as an inspiring stepping stone towards a greener devel-
impetus for the development of a variety of new applications opment of CO2-derived heterocyclic building blocks.
such as their use as drop-in monomers for sustainable
polymers,20,21 the creation of isocyanate-free polyurethanes
(NIPUs),22,23 new types of plasticizers,24 green and bio- 2. Glycerol carbonate
degradable solvents and surfactants,25 and functionalized
building blocks for organic synthesis.26,27 The utilization of glycerol to produce valuable chemicals is an
With this context in mind, we decided to capture the most inspiring goal for chemists. Glycerol is the main byproduct
recent and important advances in this area in this review. The
focal point will be on selected biosourced feedstock that has

a
Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Barcelona Institute of Science &
Technology, Av. Països Catalans 16, 43007 – Tarragona, Spain.
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
b
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Molecular Science and
Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), 555 Moo
1, 21210, Payupnai, WangChan, Rayong, Thailand.
E-mail: [email protected]
c
Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Pg. Lluis Companys Fig. 1 Biobased feedstock used to prepare bio-carbonates. Apart from
23, 08010 – Barcelona, Spain glycerol, exemplary cases of the other categories are shown.

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derived from the production of biodiesel (i.e., through the

transesterification of triglycerides, present in vegetable oils,
with alcohols such as methanol), and is produced at a higher
rate than it is consumed. Therefore, it is important to find
ways that transform low-value glycerol into high-value pro-
ducts. Regarding the chemical transformations of glycerol, one
of the most attractive conversion processes is its conversion
into glycerol carbonate (GC).31–39 This cyclic organic carbonate
finds interesting use in cosmetics and lubricants, coating
materials and as a polar solvent.40 In addition, GC can also be
used as building block in organic synthesis through ring-
opening, decarboxylation, esterification or polymerization
reactions.41–43
The most common way to produce GC is by transesterifica-
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tion of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate (DMC) or urea with

the aid of a catalyst.44–48 The most desirable sustainable and
straightforward route to produce GC would be from glycerol
and carbon dioxide combining two waste molecules. However,
the direct coupling of CO2 and glycerol is an equilibrium-
limited reaction making it difficult to achieve high conversions
Scheme 1 Formation of GC from glycerol using (n-Bu)2Sn(OMe)2 as
and yields unless sacrificial dehydrating agent are used catalyst.
(vide infra). Despite significant advances that have been
achieved in the direct glycerol-to-GC conversion, an alternative
route towards GC utilizes glycidol and CO2. Glycidol has much
higher reactivity towards CO2 and, moreover, it can also be pro-
duced from biomass. The subsequent sections discuss the
pros and cons of both formation routes.

2.1. Glycerol carbonate from glycerol and CO2

The first attempt towards the synthesis of GC from glycerol
and CO2 was reported by Mouloungui in 1998.49
Unfortunately, under supercritical CO2 conditions, the reaction
did not occur. It was not until 2006 when Dibenedetto success-
fully reported that Sn-based catalysts of the formula
(n-Bu)2SnO or (n-Bu)2Sn(OMe)2 were able to catalyze the for-
mation of GC at 5 MPa of CO2 pressure and 180 °C to obtain a
maximum of 5.7% isolated yield of GC under solvent-free con-
ditions using molecular sieves to remove water from the reac-
tion mixture.50 The Sn-based catalyst activates glycerol by Scheme 2 Comparison of different dehydrating agents in the for-
forming an active Sn-glycerate intermediate that allows for CO2 mation of GC from glycerol and CO2.
insertion. This process was greatly improved by Munshi in
2009 using MeOH as medium, which increased the yield of GC
to 35% (Scheme 1).51 The addition of MeOH is believed to In most reported approaches, acetonitrile is selected as an in-
help preventing catalyst deactivation by avoiding oligomeriza- expensive dehydrating agent, which upon reaction with the
tion of the mononuclear catalytic species. in situ generated water forms acetamide. This in turn may
Up to now, many catalytic systems have been reported that further react with a second molecule of water to generate
are based on metal oxides/complexes,52–57 supported metal acetic acid. The latter can lower the selectivity towards GC
catalysts,58,59 or modified zeolites or hydrotalcites,60–62 in com- through mono- and di-acetylation of glycerol.
bination with a dehydrating reagent. Most of the reported Adiponitrile has been used as a dehydrating agent by
heterogeneous catalysts typically require harsh reaction con- McGregor,57 who found that under the applied reaction con-
ditions for GC synthesis, i.e. a CO2 pressure above 40 bar and ditions, adiponitrile degraded to NH3 that upon reaction with
temperatures above 150 °C. glycerol produces 4-(hydroxymethyl)oxazolidin-2-one (4-HMO)
Another notable feature of these processes is the introduc- as a mixture of two regioisomers. Apart from acetonitrile and
tion of a dehydrating reagent, which was found to be more adiponitrile, He and co-workers reported in 2016 the use of
effective than molecular sieves, but on the other hand lowered 2-cyanopyridine as a superior dehydrating reagent. In the pres-
in some cases the chemoselectivity towards GC (Scheme 2).57 ence of a CeO2 based catalyst, the yield of GC is boosted up to

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Scheme 3 Metal-free formation of GC using 2-cyanopyridine.

79% when using 3 equiv. of 2-cyanopyridine at 4 MPa of CO2

and 150 °C in DMF.63 Moreover, the CeO2 catalyst could be
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recycled 5 times through a calcination process at 400 °C.

Recently, Choi et al. demonstrated the advantage of using
CaC2 as a dehydrating agent for the synthesis of GC, which in
combination of Zn(OTf )2/phen (1,10-phenanthroline) in NMP
(N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) could achieve 88% isolated yield at
50 bar of CO2 pressure at 180 °C for 24 h.55
One year later, Zhao et al. demonstrated that the formation Scheme 4 General reaction of glycerol with CO2 in the presence of a
coupling agent.
of GC (via 2-cyanopyridine) also occurs in the absence of a
metal catalyst achieving a 19% yield at 15 MPa of CO2 and
180 °C (Scheme 3).64 The authors confirmed by FTIR that
2-cyanopyridine activates CO2 to form a five-membered ring
which then reacts with glycerol to produce GC. Interestingly, not only the yield of GC could be improved to 81%, but also
switching to 3-cyanopyridine, 4-cyanopyridine or acetonitrile the catalyst could be recycled up to 5 times while maintaining
did not provide such potential. Theoretical calculations the same level of activity.
pointed indeed to the formation of a five-membered hetero- Apart from the use of PO, dimethylethynyl carbinol (i.e., a
cycle as the “activated” form of CO2, which is subsequently propargylic alcohol) has also been applied as a reagent to gene-
involved in a transesterification reaction of glycerol. rate GC in high yield, along with 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone
as the byproduct. The reaction proceeds through the intermedi-
2.2. Glycerol carbonate using coupling agents acy of a cyclic alkenyl carbonate, which allows for the transesteri-
Glycerol carbonate can also be successfully prepared by reac- fication of glycerol. Since 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-butanone contains
tion of glycerol and carbon dioxide in the presence of a coup- a tertiary alcohol group, it is less nucleophilic than propylene
ling agent, which is used to produce a cyclic carbonate inter- glycol, and thus does not readily react with the formed GC to
mediate in situ allowing for transesterification of glycerol to return the carbonate intermediate. Initially, the group of He
form glycerol carbonate and a by-product (Scheme 4). The reported in 2017 the use of a Ag2CO3/Xantphos as a catalyst pro-
involvement of a third reactant allows to overcome the intrin- moting this transformation in MeCN at 80 °C under 1 MPa of
sic thermodynamic limitation for the direct reaction between CO2 pressure to give GC in 82% yield (entry 3, Table 1).67 A
glycerol and CO2, whereas it also produces a new byproduct solvent-free version was later reported by Song and Zhang using
derived from this additional component. a silver sulfadiazine/Et4NBr catalytic system, although a lower
In this context, propylene oxide (PO) was the first additive yield for GC was obtained (entry 4, Table 1).68
to be reported by Han and co-workers in 2012 (entry 1, On the other hand, the groups of Lu,69 and Liu,70 indepen-
Table 1).65 Although PO constitutes an inexpensive precursor, dently reported an organocatalytic approach to prepare GC. In
the process would not be entirely biobased since PO is primar- the case of Lu, a one-pot approach was applied by formation of
ily produced from fossil fuel feedstock. The reaction uses KI as the intermediate carbonate using a catalytic amount of an
a catalyst and is carried out at 2 MPa of CO2 pressure and amidine-CO2 adduct, followed by the transesterification with
115 °C affording GC in 75% yield. The catalyst promotes the glycerol catalyzed by MTBD (entry 5, Table 1; MTBD = methyl-
formation of propylene carbonate (PC), which then engages in 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene). In this way, 85% yield of
a transesterification of glycerol producing both GC and propy- GC was obtained under very mild reaction conditions. The
lene glycol. In 2018, Xiao et al. improved the process by intro- system of Liu and co-workers was based on DBU (8-diazabi-
ducing a bromide-based heterogeneous catalyst obtained cyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene) and was also found to promote both
through the polymerization of divinyl benzene and 1-vinyl-3- steps to deliver GC in 97% yield albeit under harsher reaction
butylimidazolium bromide (entry 2, Table 1).66 Importantly, conditions (entry 6, Table 1).

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Table 1 Results for the synthesis of GC using various coupling agents. NR = not reported

Entrya Coupling agent Conditions Yield of GC (%) Yield of byproduct (%)

1 [65] CO2 (2 MPa), KI 115 °C, 1.5 h 77 39b

2 [66] CO2 (2 MPa) P-DVB-(vIm-BuBr) 100 °C, 4 h 81 20c
3 [67] CO2 (1 MPa) Ag2CO3, XantPhos MeCN, 80 °C, 16 h 82 83

4 [68] CO2 (1 MPa) Ag sulfadiazene, Et4NBr 80 °C, 24 h 56 69

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5 [69] 1. CO2 (0.1 MPa) Amidine-CO2 25 °C, 24 h 2. MTBD MeCN, 25 °C, 24 h 85 NR

6 [70] CO2 (3 MPa), DBU DMF, 120 °C, 10 h 97 63

7 [71] CH2Br2 CO2 (1 MPa) DBU, BmimPF6 70 °C, 18 h 86 NR

8 [72] n-BuBr CO2 (0.1 MPa) Guanidine cat. NMP, 50 °C, 4 h 74 NR
a
Corresponding reference in parentheses. b 59% yield of propylene carbonate. c 76% yield of propylene carbonate.

The last example of this strategy illustrates that alkyl Gly has distinct reactivity compared to other common epox-
halides are also effective reactants. Compared to the other ides such as PO or styrene oxide. The non-innocent hydroxyl
methods, the use of halogenated reagents implies the gene- group can actively participate in the reaction in two distinct
ration of halogen-containing waste, which is not ideal from a ways. Capacchione and co-workers found that ring-opening of
sustainable point of view. Initially, Jang reported in 2014 one glycidol by an external nucleophile was faster than with other
example using BmimPF6 (an ionic liquid), DBU as a homo- epoxides (Table 2).74 By means of NMR and DFT studies, they
geneous base and CH2Br2 as both the reactant and solvent to concluded that glycidol dimers were present under the cata-
afford GC in 86% isolated yield (entry 7, Table 1).71 An inter- lytic reaction conditions. Intermolecular hydrogen bonds
mediary linear carbonate salt attacks the CH2Br2 reagent fol- between the Gly molecules are important to explain the acti-
lowing ring-closure leading to the CC. The authors propose vation the oxirane ring of Gly towards nucleophilic ring-
that the ionic liquid helps to improve the solubility of CO2 opening by bromide (Fig. 3). Hence, using simple TBAB (tetra-
although under basic conditions, it is possible that an NHC- butylammonium bromide, 5 mol%) at 60 °C and 1 MPa of CO2
carbene forms able to capture/activate CO2, which can then pressure it was possible to convert Gly in >99% conversion and
react with glycidol. In another approach, Mihara et al. used selectivity producing GC (entry 1, Table 2). Lowering the temp-
n-BuBr as the additional component, together with a guani- erature to 40 °C or reducing the loading of TBAB to 1 mol%
dine-based catalyst (entry 8, Table 1).72 By adjusting the reac- while heating at 80 °C for 1 h reduced the conversion to 87%
tion conditions, it was possible to selectively form GC in 74% and 85%, respectively (entries 2 and 3, Table 2). Lowering the
yield at 50 °C under 0.1 MPa of CO2 pressure and using NMP pressure to 0.1 MPa had a negative impact on the Gly conver-
(N-methyl pyrrolidone) as solvent. sion, which reached 52% after stirring for 24 h at 40 °C. The
authors also examined the conversion of PO at the optimized
2.3. Glycerol carbonate from glycidol reaction conditions but noted only 4% of conversion. This
Apart from the conversion of bio-glycerol into glycerol carbon- Gly/TBAB derived binary catalyst was then successfully applied
ate, an alternative and popular route starts from its epoxy to other epoxide/CO2 combinations, and significantly better
alcohol derivative, viz. glycidol (Gly). This precursor can be substrate conversion levels were achieved compared to the
derived from glycerol present in industrial waste produced in reactions performed without Gly.
the synthesis of epichlorohydrin, thus providing an opportu- The group of Kleij discovered that the hydroxyl group of Gly
nity for recycling it into valuable glycerol carbonate in two can be involved in the activation of CO2 by forming a transient
steps.73 This route based on Gly features excellent atom- hemi-carbonate species (Scheme 5) that acts as an intra-
economy and, additionally, since many highly efficient cata- molecular nucleophile able to ring-open the oxirane ring
lytic systems have been developed over the years for the coup- under mild conditions: as such, no external nucleophilic addi-
ling of oxiranes and CO2, glycidol has often been included in tive is required facilitating thus a halide-free route.17 The use
the substrate scope. of the aminotriphenolate aluminum catalyst 1tBu (1 mol%) at

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Table 2 Upper part: effects on the conversion by changing the reaction

parameters in the synthesis of GC using Gly

TBAB T CO2 Time Conversion

Entry (mol%) (°C) (MPa) (h) (%)

1 5 60 1 3 >99%
2 5 40 1 3 87
3 1 80 1 1 85
4 5 40 0.1 24 52
5a 5 60 1 3 4

>99% selectivity towards GC in all the cases. a PO as substrate.

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Scheme 6 Highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of

GC from Gly. ILs = ionic liquids, MOF = metal–organic framework,
PS = polystyrene.

ring of Gly and being facilitated by a hydrogen bond network

Fig. 3 Lower part: Hydrogen bonding in Gly and implications for the between the catalyst, Gly and co-catalytic H2O.75
overall reaction. While more than 140 publications have been reported that
discuss the conversion of Gly into GC, not all the catalyst
systems proved to be superior to simple TBAB. However, some
catalyst systems provide other advantages, such as recyclability,
reduced catalyst loading and/or milder reaction conditions
among others. For example, the use of heterogeneous catalysts
(Scheme 6) allows for easy catalyst recovery after some postsyn-
thetic treatment such as filtration or product extraction. Most
of these heterogeneous systems for GC synthesis from Gly are
derived from ionic liquids (ILs),76–82 which accelerate the reac-
tion in two ways.
First, a nucleophilic anion helps to ring-open the oxirane
ring and, second, an appropriate IL can establish hydrogen
bonds between the oxirane ring and the acidic C2 proton
(Scheme 6) of the imidazolium ring. The group of Jiang
reported an efficient supported ionic liquid catalyst which was
confined inside a metal–organic framework (MOF), and this
multi-component system displayed synergistic effects between
the CO2 capturing capability of the MOF, the Lewis acidic sites
Scheme 5 Halide-free carboxylation of glycerol using the aluminum
of the MOF and the basic sites of the poly-IL.83 Islam et al.
aminotriphenolate catalyst 1tBu. reported three examples of active heterogeneous catalysts that
are not based on ILs. An iron-phosphonate nanomaterial,84
and a polystyrene supported zinc catalyst,85 showed good
activity as Lewis acidic materials with TBAB used as a co-cata-
75 °C and 1 MPa of CO2 pressure in methylethyl ketone (MEK) lyst. Conversely, the catalyst based on ZnSnO3,86 did not
as solvent enabled to obtain >99% Gly conversion in 2 h and require any additive.
provided GC in 93% isolated yield. The mechanism of the reac- Compared to heterogeneous catalysts, homogeneous cata-
tion was studied in detail by ATR-IR, kinetic studies, DFT ana- lysts derived from earth-abundant metals show superior
lysis and X-ray crystallography, which provided proof that a activity and, thus, reduced catalyst loadings are typically uti-
hemi-carbonate intermediate forms under the reaction con- lized. Moreover, bifunctional catalysts, which have the halide
ditions aiding the intramolecular ring-opening of the oxirane anion incorporated within the catalyst structure, have demon-

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strated good activity and selectivity towards the formation of

GC. For instance, aluminum scorpionate complexes
(Scheme 7) reported by Lara-Sánchez and co-workers can
achieve an excellent GC yield using 0.25–0.5 mol% of catalyst
loading at 70–85 °C.87–89 Similar results were obtained by the
group of He, who reported a bifunctional zinc salen-like
complex that shows appreciable activity at 0.3 mol% catalyst
loading and 0.1 MPa of CO2 pressure, though heating to
100 °C was necessary.90 Another type of bifunctional catalyst
was reported by North et al. showing that a bimetallic alumi-
num salen complex displays high activity in the synthesis of
GC from Gly, achieving full conversion in 3 h at only 27 °C and
0.1 MPa.91
Other homogeneous metal catalysts combined with a co-
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catalytic amount of halide also exhibit high activity such as the

Scheme 8 Efficient reported organocatalysts for the conversion of Gly
aluminum,92 and lanthanum,93 based scorpionate catalysts into GC.
reported by Otero, Lara-Sánchez et al. In particular the
La-based catalyst shows good activity at remarkably low catalyst
loading (0.05 mol%) achieving 98% yield of GC at 70 °C and
nate type organocatalyst comprising of an aminodiphenol
1 MPa CO2 pressure in 4 h.
scaffold which acts as a hydrogen-bond activator, and
Lastly, some organocatalysts have also been demonstrated
additionally contains a quaternary ammonium salt in its
as competitive systems for metal-based catalysts. Most of these
structure.96
organocatalysts effectively activate the oxirane ring by estab-
D’Elia reported that ascorbic acid is an efficient hydrogen
lishing hydrogen bonds that facilitate the ring-opening by a
bond donor which, in combination with a co-catalytic amount
halide nucleophile. For instance, Cokoja,94 and Lara-
of TBAI, could achieve high yield of GC at room temperature
Sánchez,95 reported recyclable organocatalysts that contain
and 0.1 MPa of CO2.97 On the other hand, the group of Wu
imidazolium rings featuring halide counter anions
reported a bifunctional organoboron organocatalyst able to
(Scheme 8). Similarly, the group of Kim published a scorpio-
achieve full conversion and excellent yield of GC at remarkably
low (0.02 mol%) catalyst loading though under somewhat
harsher reaction conditions (120 °C, 20 MPa CO2).98 In the
latter case, mechanistic studies indicated that the boron acts
as a Lewis acid and activates the oxirane ring near a closely
positioned ammonium iodide unit (Scheme 8). Lastly, Kleij
et al. showed that DBU can promote the formation of GC from
Gly and other epoxy alcohols through the formation of a hemi-
carbonate intermediate under mild reaction conditions (45 °C,
1 MPa CO2).99

3. Terpene based carbonates

As stated before, the synthesis of CCs from CO2 has become a
mature research field. In most contributions, there has been a
primary focus on the preparation of relatively simple five- and
six-membered CCs with a low degree of substitution/function-
ality. To explore new applications of CCs, the preparation of
structurally more complex products is currently an emerging
topic in the area of CO2 utilization. In this regard, terpenes
represent attracting starting materials for the preparation of
new, more complex and partially biobased CCs.
The isolation of 4-muurolen-7,15-diol-7,15-carbonate in
1994 demonstrated that there are naturally occurring terpenoid
carbonates (Fig. 2).100 Since then, several other examples of
Scheme 7 Highly efficient homogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of terpene carbonates have been reported,101,102 ranging from
GC from Gly. compounds having five- to eight-membered CC moieties

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Fig. 2 Examples of naturally occurring terpenoid carbonates. The

cyclic carbonate rings are highlighted in red.

Scheme 9 Structures of both limonene enantiomers, limonene-based

oxides and limonene-based cyclic carbonates, and their abbreviations.
within their structure with some of them showing biological
activity such as Genkwanin I,103 Soyasapogenol G,104 and
Chuktabrin F (Fig. 2).105 These findings triggered the effort of
several research groups to use terpene scaffolds for the prepa- the coupling of 1,2-LO with CO2 is given in Fig. 4.92,93,117–121
ration of new types of CCs. The high-structural modularity of With respect to other epoxides commonly used for the prepa-
terpenes and the almost ubiquitous presence of double bonds ration of CCs, sterically demanding 1,2-LO shows substantially
that can be easily oxidized and further functionalized, offer an lower reactivity during its coupling with CO2. This results in
ideal starting point for the preparation of CCs using the typical use of relatively high temperatures (75–100 °C) and
CO2.106,107 pressures (10–30 bar) and relatively long reaction times
In addition to these attractive structural features, it must be (16–66 hours); therefore, achieving full substrate conversion
noted that terpenes can be isolated from natural sources, ren- remains a challenge.
dering these molecules an attracting alternative to fossil fuel- Selective formation of trans-1,2-LC has been observed in
based raw materials. In particular, the cyclic terpene limonene several cases such as with catalysts based on 1tBu, 2, 6 and 8
(both enantiomers) can be conveniently isolated from natural (Fig. 4). This suggests that the cis and trans isomers of 1,2-LO
sources such as citrus fruit and fir cone oil (Scheme 9).108,109 It exhibit different reactivity as previously described in the prepa-
is likely for this reason that limonene has been the most ration of poly(limonene carbonate).114,115 Indeed, reactions
studied terpene in the coupling reaction with CO2, and conducted with the binary system 1tBu/PPNCl [bis(triphenyl-
especially in the synthesis of polycarbonates.110–116 phosphine)iminium chloride] using either the pure trans-1,2-
The extraction of (R)-limonene from orange peel has LO or cis-1,2-LO resulted in higher conversion (73%) and
resulted as economically feasible, and thus the use of this stereoselectivity (cis/trans > 1 : 99), and only very low conver-
enantiomer is predominant in literature. The structure of limo- sion (4%), respectively.116 The formation of trans-1,2-LC was
nene shows the presence of two different double bonds, that confirmed by X-ray analysis, and more recently the same reac-
can be selectively epoxidized to afford either 1,2-limonene tivity difference was observed with the binary catalyst
oxide (1,2-LO), 8,9-limonene oxide (8,9-LO) and limonene 8/PPNCl.93
dioxide (LDO, being a mixtures of cis/trans isomers), and their In 2016, Fiorani et al. extended the use of the binary
coupling with CO2 leads to the formation of the corresponding systems 1R/PPNCl to the synthesis of other CCs from CO2 and
1,2-limonene carbonate (1,2-LC), 8,9-limonene carbonate both bicyclic and acyclic terpene epoxides (Scheme 10).116
(8,9-LC) and limonene dicarbonate (LDC) (Scheme 9). Under the optimized conditions, the conversion of these bicyc-
Due to the higher reactivity of the endocyclic double bond lic substrates typically proceeds with high chemoselectivity
and hence the easier synthetic access to 1,2-LO, this particular and moderate isolated yields between 45–52% providing thus
limonene oxide has been investigated preferentially. A access to carvone (c1), limonene dioxide (c3) and menthene
summary of metal-based catalytic systems reported to promote (c4) based CCs. Attempts to produce limonene dicarbonate c2

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Scheme 10 Terpene-based CCs obtained with binary catalysts 1R/

PPNCl.

phenolate-assisted,122,123 and the Lewis-acid induced

Meinwald-type rearrangements of the starting epoxide,124,125
respectively.
The preparation of model compound c10 resulted into a
similar product distribution, thus ruling out that by-product
formation depends on the nature of the substrate. Despite the
issue with the overall chemoselectivity, the synthesis of
terpene CCs derived from citronellyl acetate (c5), geranyl
Fig. 4 Metal-based catalytic systems reported for the preparation of acetate (c6), linalyl acetate (c7) and neryl acetate (c8) was poss-
1,2-LC, comparative reaction conditions and product stereochemistry.
ible in moderately high yields. The conversion of myrcene gave
N.d. stands for not determined.
a complex reaction mixture, resulting in low yield of CC c9 due
to additional side-reactions likely involving the conjugated
double-bond.
Following this study, Werner et al. reported the preparation
were less successful because of the competitive formation of a of carbonate c2 (78%) and c4 (81%) in high yields in the pres-
polyether (PE) product. The crystal structures of cis-c1, trans-c2 ence of 10 mol% of the catalyst 4/PPh3 (Fig. 4) and at 50 bar of
and c3 were elucidated by X-ray analysis for the first time, and CO2 and 75 °C.118 Under the same reaction conditions, the
confirmed the assigned stereochemistry on the basis of NMR preparation of c5 (19%) and c6 (23%) was less efficient and
spectroscopic studies. provided only low yields. In 2019, Lara-Sánchez et al. reported
The conversion of acyclic substrates proceeded with lower the preparation and characterization of several new terpene-
chemoselectivities, and generally higher pressure of CO2 based CCs obtained through the use of binary catalyst 5/TBAC
(4.0 MPa) was necessary to obtain appreciable yields. In the (Fig. 4).119 Carvone-based carbonates c11–14 (Scheme 11) were
conversion of these acyclic terpene oxide substrates apart from obtained in good to high yields.
the formation of a PE, the formation of allylic alcohol (AA) and Diastereo-enriched samples of c11 and c13 were obtained
ketone (K) side-products was also detected (Scheme 10). The after crystallization, and their atom connectivities were
formation of AA and K by-products was attributed to the revealed by X-ray analysis. Carbonates c15 and c16 were only

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Scheme 12 Diastereoselective synthesis of 1,2-geraniol carbonate via a

substrate-directed CO2 activation in the presence of 1tBu as catalyst.
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Metal-based catalysts may offer several advantages such as

the use of milder reaction conditions, shorter reaction times
and higher stereocontrol. At the same time, drawbacks such as
high(er) cost, multistep synthesis and air/moisture sensitivity
create incentives to select more simple catalysts of commercial
interest and a practical point of view. In 2018, Morikawa et al.
described the reaction of 1,2-LO with CO2 in the presence of
TBAC, TBAB or TBAI as catalyst.127 In the presence of 10 mol%
of halide salt, the reaction at 100 °C and 30 bar proceeds more
efficiently with TBAC. Due to the steric impediment of LO, the
smaller radius chloride anion gives the best trade-off in terms
of nucleophilicity, leaving group ability and size features.
Under these conditions, the reactions using pure trans-1,2-LO
and cis-1,2-LO provided higher (76%) and lower (19%) conver-
sions, respectively, compared with the commercial cis/trans
mixture (51%). This finding is in line with the different reactiv-
ity reported for both LO stereoisomers in the case of metal-
based catalysts.93,116 Interestingly, pure cis-1,2-LC was isolated
for the first time and characterized by NMR spectroscopy. In
Scheme 11 New terpene-based CCs obtained with the binary catalyst addition, the relative configuration of the chiral centers in cis-
5/TBAC. 1,2-LC was confirmed by X-ray analysis of the corresponding
diol obtained by reduction with LiAlH4 (Scheme 13).
For comparative reasons only, the same research group
reported, for the first time the synthesis of two 1,2-LC dia-
isolated in low yield because of the low stability of the bicyclic stereoisomers in which the oxygen atoms of the carbonate ring
carbonates derived from the endo epoxide. These latter pro- are in a trans configuration by treatment of 1,2-diols stereoi-
ducts undergo a decarboxylative decomposition toward the for- somers with triphosgene rather than using a more preferred
mation of the corresponding syn diols. The challenging car- CO2/epoxide coupling strategy (Scheme 14).128
bonates c17 and c18, derived from terpinolene and ionone
were obtained in moderate yields, whereas the preparation of
terpinene-4-ol and caryophellene carbonates c19 and c20 were
found to proceed in a diastereo-selective fashion as presented
in the bottom part of Scheme 11.
In 2016, Kleij et al. described a new protocol for the syn-
thesis of highly substituted CCs using epoxy alcohols as sub-
strates via a “substrate-directed” mechanism promoted by
complex 1R (Fig. 4).17,126 In this context, the authors reported
the diastereoselective synthesis of 1,2-geraniol carbonate from
2,3-epoxy geraniol and CO2 (Scheme 12). Notably, this regio-
divergent method achieved the conversion of a sterically Scheme 13 Synthesis of cis-1,2-LO and reduction towards the corres-
demanding terpene-based substrate under mild conditions. ponding syn diol.

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Scheme 14 Synthesis of 1,2-LC diastereoisomers having a trans confi- Scheme 16 Selective epoxidation of (R)-limonene and synthesis of
gured carbonate ring. 8,9-LC.

Recently, Rehman et al. reported a detailed kinetic study of posed that the formation of these products occurs by bromide
the 1,2-LO/CO2 coupling reaction in the presence of TBAC.129 elimination after initial bromide-assisted epoxide ring-
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This investigation confirmed the higher reactivity of the trans opening being essentially the first step of the catalytic cycle
isomer in the formation of 1,2-LC. It was found that the reac- leading to LDC. Therefore, in order to obtain a pure com-
tion kinetics show a first-order dependence with respect to all pound, LDC was crystallized obtaining a mixture of cis and
the reaction components (1,2-LO, CO2 and TBAC). In addition, trans isomers in a 2 : 3 ratio. Further crystallization led to the
the thermodynamic parameters of this conversion were deter- isolation of pure trans-LDC as confirmed by X-ray analysis.
mined using the Eyring equation, providing activation The use of limonene-based CCs in the preparations of NIPUs
enthalpy and entropy values of 60.6 kJ mol−1 and −103.6 J was also investigated by Hintermair et al.134 The authors
(mol K)−1, respectively. reported the preparation of 8,9-LC by reaction of 8,9-LO and
In the last decade, the use of CCs have emerged as an CO2 mediated by TBAB. The key step for the synthesis of the
attracting, more sustainable alternative for the production of desired carbonate was the selective epoxidation of (R)-limonene
the so-called non-isocyanate based polyurethanes (NIPUs), and at the less hindered terminal alkene. This reaction was per-
the preparation of CCs from renewable feedstock is of impor- formed using perchloric acid as the oxidant in the presence of a
tance to develop more sustainable materials.22,130,131 In this bulky polyoxometalate (POM) catalyst previously reported by
respect, the research group of Mülhaupt investigated the use Mizuno and coworkers (Scheme 16).135 Because of a lower
of limonene dicarbonate (LDC) for the synthesis of new types degree of steric hindrance, the formation of 8,9-LC occurs com-
of NIPUs.132,133 They investigated the synthesis of LDC from paratively much faster than the formation of 1,2-LC under the
LDO and CO2 catalyzed by TBAB on a kilogram scale. First, the same reaction conditions reaching 80% conversion in
reaction parameters (CO2 pressure, temperature and catalyst 2.5 hours. Remarkably, the two different 8,9-LO diastereo-
loading) where optimized, after which full LDO conversion isomers generated during the epoxidation reaction show similar
could be achieved using 3 mol% of TBAB in less than 50 h at reactivity in their coupling reaction with CO2, which is in con-
140 °C and 30 bar of CO2. A brownish oil was is obtained this trast to the behaviour typically observed for cis and trans 1,2-LO.
way, and it was initially directly used (without purification) for
the preparation of NIPUs preparation.132 Afterwards, a more
detailed analysis of the reaction products based on NMR and 4. Carbohydrate derived carbonates
mass spectrometry was carried out revealing the formation of
several by-products (B1–4, Scheme 15).133 The authors pro- Sugars are another interesting and ubiquitous source for CCs.
Different from terpenes or fatty acids, these compounds bear
multiple alcoholic functionalities, and therefore the prepa-
ration of cyclic carbonates on sugars is generally performed
using phosgene-derived reagents.136–139 Well-defined, non-
toxic and biodegradable poly-glycocarbonates with a narrow
distribution of molecular weights can be prepared from
sugar-based monomers bearing a six-membered
carbonate,136,137,140–142 or a trans-positioned five-membered
carbonate,138,143 showing the huge potential of functional
polymers from such substrates. In addition, the sugar mole-
cules can first be converted into simpler compounds, which
can then be converted into polymerizable monomers.144–147
Recently, a protocol to replace phosgene-derivatives was
developed (Scheme 17).148 In this process, CO2 and an organic
Scheme 15 Synthesis of LDC catalyzed by TBAB followed by crystalli- base (DBU) form an ionic hemi-carbonate intermediate, after
zation of trans-LDC, and structures of reaction by-products B1–B4. which tosyl-chloride is added to yield a cyclic carbonate.

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the hemi-carbonate over the alcohol and the ring-closure step

are strongly favored energetically as calculated by DFT. A com-
parison between the mechanism using Et3N,149 vs. DBU,148
shows that the barriers for formation of the tosylated carbonate
are 18.4 and 23.8 kcal mol−1, and the ring-closure step is
subject to a barrier of 15.4 and 18.9 kcal mol−1, respectively.
Using this new strategy, the authors synthesized a series of 5- to
8-membered cyclic carbonates, amongst which four sugar-based
CCs (Scheme 17c) in good yields comparable to or exceeding
the yields obtained using phosgene-reagent based syntheses.
The possibility to convert diols to carbonates by this
method rapidly led to further development of CO2- and sugar-
based CCs. A first report describes the synthesis and ring-
opening polymerization (ROP) of a cyclic carbonate-functiona-
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lized mannose derivative.150 1-O-Methyl-α-D-mannose was pro-

tected at position 2 and 3 by an isopropylidene acetal.
Subsequently, a six-membered cyclic carbonate was formed by
subjecting the compound to DBU and CO2 followed by tosyla-
tion with TsCl and Et3N (Scheme 18). The stereochemistry was
retained, which suggests that the mechanism discussed above
is operative. The yield of the product (57%) was higher than in
similar syntheses for D-glucose (36%) and D-xylose (41%)
derived CCs mediated by phosgene-reagents. An X-ray mole-
cular structure was obtained, confirming the trans-positioning
of the carbonate on the mannose ring. These types of bicyclic
Scheme 17 (a) and (b): Conversion of 1,3-diols to 6-membered cyclic
carbonates are easily polymerized through ROP. Indeed, the
carbonates by a stepwise, 1-pot procedure. (c) 1-step procedure to form
cyclic carbonates from sugars. authors showed that a controlled polymerization of the
obtained cyclic carbonate is feasible under organocatalytic
conditions using TBD (1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene) and
4-methylbenzyl alcohol as initiator.
1
H NMR spectroscopy was used to monitor the formation of the In addition to pyranose-sugars, there has been interest in the
ionic intermediate of 1,3-butanediol, showing that under opti- use of furanoses due to their stiffness in the backbone for poten-
mized conditions, 49% of the in situ product is carbonated on tial polymers based on it. An interesting candidate is 2-deoxy-D-
the primary alcohol, 24% on the secondary alcohol, and 5% is ribose. Naturally, this sugar exists in its pyranose form, which
bis-carbonated. Subsequent tosylation rapidly led to cyclic car- exposes a cis-diol, which can be converted into a CC through
bonate formation, without the observation of any intermedi- phosgene-based pathways. cis-5-Membered CCs, however, do not
ates. To discriminate between two mechanistic possibilities readily undergo ROP.151 Therefore, this sugar was treated with
where either the hemi-carbonate or the remaining free alcohol MeOH in acidic conditions to transform it to its furanose-form
is tosylated, enantiopure (R)-1,3-butanediol or (R,R)-2,4-penta- (Scheme 19a). The furanose-form has a trans 1,3-diol that cannot
nediol were employed. Interestingly, the stereochemistry was be carbonated using phosgene-derived methods,152 likely due to
preserved during the reaction, indicating that the hemi-car-
bonate group is likely tosylated instead of the remaining free
alcohol (Scheme 17a, top pathway).148 The proposed mecha-
nism was further supported by DFT calculations. The reaction
proved to be capable of providing the 6-membered cyclic car-
bonate derivative of D-xylose (Scheme 17b), albeit in low yield,
showing the potential of the overall transformation.
Later on, the process was improved significantly as to allow
the carbonation to occur in one step, and higher yields of the
cyclic carbonate versus byproducts such as oligomeric species or
tosylation of the alcohols were reported.149 The use of a weaker
base such as Et3N or 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine (TMP)
proved to be essential for the overall chemoselectivity. Even
though the initial formation of the hemi-carbonate is strongly
disfavored in the presence of weaker bases (2% or 4% for TMP Scheme 18 Synthesis of a 6-membered carbonate based on
or Et3N, respectively vs. 85% for DBU), the selective tosylation of D-mannose. X-ray ellipsoids at 50% probability.

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and the regioselectivity had to be forced by protection of the

5-alcohol. The reason for the successful synthesis lies in the
fact that the stereochemistry is formally inverted in this
process leading to a cis-configured carbonate of 2-deoxy-D-
xylose that is less strained than its trans-analogue. ROP was
attempted for both anomers, and it was shown that the
β-anomer could not be polymerized. In contrast, the α-anomer
was converted into a high-molecular weight polymer using tri-
methylene carbonate (TMC) as a comonomer in the presence
of TBD as catalyst and benzyl alcohol as initiator.153
The same research group set out to investigate the possi-
bility of generating CCs of thymidine, one of the bases of DNA
containing the same 2-deoxy-D-ribose sugar backbone.154 Both
phosgene-reagent and DBU-CO2 mediated syntheses were
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unsuccessful likely due to high ring strain of trans-fused CC

units in furanose-sugars. In order to relieve the ring-strain but
retain polymerization potential, the secondary alcohol at posi-
tion 3′ of the thymidine was tosylated. Subsequent hemi-car-
bonate formation at alcohol 5′ and ring-closure led to a
6-membered CC with the stereochemistry at the 3′-position
inverted (Scheme 19b). In addition, the free NH-group of thy-
midine required methylation as not to inhibit carbonate for-
mation. As in other comparable cases, the cyclic carbonate
monomer could be polymerized with a high control over the
molecular weight of the resultant polycarbonate.
Later on, the ribose substrate was investigated for the for-
mation of thiocarbonates or xanthates using CS2 as a replace-
ment for CO2 (Scheme 19c).155 The authors hypothesized that
the larger C–S bond distance could better accommodate a trans-
fused ring on the sugar. Reacting 1-O-methyl-2-deoxy-D-ribose
with CS2 and DBU, followed by MsCl (mesyl chloride) and Et3N
led to a single product in low yield (10%). The product was
proven to contain a xanthate ring fused trans to the ribofura-
nose ring. When using a substrate where the diol is positioned
cis (such as in 1,2-protected xylose) the xanthate product was
obtained in similar yield (15%) but in addition the expected
thiocarbonate product was formed in moderate yield (48%). The
authors explain these results by proposing that the alcohol at
the 5-position is mesylated, and the hemi-xanthate intermediate
Scheme 19 (a) Synthesis of sugar-derived CCs through a DBU is formed at position 3, formed by ring-closure. Indeed, when
mediated insertion of CO2 through SN2 displacement of pre-activated the mesylated compound is prepared prior to reacting with DBU
alcohols or halides. (b) synthesis of a thymidine-based cyclic carbonate. and CS2, the same product is formed in higher yield.
(c) preparation of thiobased CCs. (d) synthesis of a D-glucose-based
The group of Gnanou published a similar strategy to obtain-
cyclic carbonate (TEGM = –(CH2CH2O)3CH3, a D-mannose-based cyclic
carbonate and a D-galactose-based cyclic carbonate. ing carbonates of glucose by inclusion of CO2.156 By a protec-
tion-group strategy, they produced a fully protected glucopyra-
nose with a benzylidene-acetal on alcohols 4 and 6, methylated
anomeric alcohol and either a methyl or a methyl triethyl-
the high ring strain. Therefore, an alternative route was envi- eneglycol group on alcohols 2 and 3. Bromination of the
sioned, based on selective preactivation of the secondary alcohol acetal-group and hydrolysis of the resulting benzoyl-group on
at the 3-position using tosyl chloride.153 position 4 led to a halo-alcohol derivative. Under slightly elev-
Using the activated sugar, the protocol based on DBU and ated pressure of CO2 (10 bar) and in the presence of DBU, this
CO2 led to a 6-membered CC in one step as a mixture of compound was carbonated to give the glucose-based cyclic car-
anomers that could be separated by column chromatography. bonate with retention of stereochemistry (Scheme 19d).
By reversing the order of tosylation and hemi-carbonate for- Although inversion of stereochemistry would be expected on
mation, the stereochemistry of the reaction can therefore be position 6, this carbon center is achiral. The authors were able
controlled. However, it is necessary to first isolate the tosylate, to generate hydrophilic or hydrophobic polymers by ROP of

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the cyclic-carbonate monomers, with R = Me, or TEGM, bonate fragment that allows for subsequent ring-closure to yield
respectively or amphiphilic polymers by using both mono- the cyclic carbonate (Scheme 20b).158 The procedure is selective
mers. The new synthetic method proves a greener alternative for the formation of cis-5-membered carbonates, no trans-cyclic
to the method described by Wooley et al., using phosgene carbonates or 6-membered (even if they are cis in the case of
derivatives to generate the carbonate.136–138 Two more deriva- galactose) were observed. Although not polymerizable, the
tives were later synthesized through the same method, i.e., authors show that the carbonates can react with amines to
selective protection and bromination of the 6-position followed afford linear carbamates, which holds promise for their use in
by reaction with DBU and CO2 in DMF.157 By this method, the the production of isocyanate-free hydroxypolyurethanes.157
authors could synthesize cyclic carbonates from a D-mannose
and a D-galactose, and polymerize them through ROP.
In the same article, the authors report a procedure to gene-
rate 5-membered cyclic carbonates regioselectively from galac- 5. Fatty acid based carbonates
tose and mannose that were only methylated at the anomeric
As can be judged from the preceding sections, the partial re-
position (Scheme 20a).157 The simple one-step reaction involves
placement of fossil fuels-based chemicals with compounds
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CH2Br2 to generate a productive leaving group in the hemi-car-

sourced from bio-based, renewable sources is an attractive and
rewarding target in chemical research in the pursuit of increased
sustainability.159–162 It is clear that the realization of such a target
requires the use of feedstock that are available in large volumes
such as biogenic and food waste materials,163–165 or those deriva-
ble from mass production crops.166,167
In this context, vegetable oils (VOs, Fig. 5), with a global pro-
duction of over 200 Mt per year,168,169 represent a valuable feed-
stock for the production of several chemicals.170 The transesteri-
fication of VOs leads to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs, Fig. 5)
that find wide application as commodity chemicals,171 biodiesel
fuel,172 and as intermediates for further chemical
diversification.173–177 In particular, epoxidized fatty acid esters
(EFAs, Fig. 5) can be easily obtained and display potential for
applications such as lubricants, additives and plasticizers.178
Similarly, triglycerides in vegetables oils can be epoxidized to
Scheme 20 (a) one-step synthesis to form cis-5-membered CCs from afford epoxidized vegetable oils (EVOs, Fig. 5), that find appli-
a D-mannose and a D-galactose.(b) Proposed mechanism of the cation as green materials for the preparation of PVC [poly(vinyl
reaction. chloride)], plasticizers,179 elastomers,180 coatings,181 epoxy

Fig. 5 Products from transesterification and functionalization of vegetables oils depicted as triglycerides of saturated, mono- and poly-unsaturated
fatty acids.

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resins and blends.182 Finally, both EFAs and EVOs can be carbo- the synthesis of tc1 was studied by Werner et al. by employing
nated via catalytic cycloaddition chemistry using CO2,1,2,4,181,183 various organocatalysts derived from phosphonium salts, or
leading to carbonated fatty acids and carbonated vegetable oils calcium-based catalysts (9, Scheme 22).118,195–197
(CFAs and CVOs, Fig. 5). These latter compounds can serve as The first attempt to prepare tc1 was carried out by using
plasticizers for PVC,24 and as building blocks for the synthesis bifunctional single-component organocatalysts based on tetra-
of NIPUs, respectively.185,186 Importantly, the latter processes alkylphosphonium salts bearing an alcoholic moiety acting as
have received increasing attention in recent years,118,187,188 as hydrogen bond donor (HBD) for the activation of the epoxide
they enable the integration between highly sought-after re- (9, Scheme 22).195 The latter class of organocatalysts is structu-
cycling of CO2 into chemicals,189–191 and the use of renewable rally tunable and accessible through the simple reaction
substrates as building blocks for commodity chemicals with a
low(er) carbon footprint.24,192,193
In this section, we review the catalytic processes that have
been developed (mostly in the last decade) for the cyclo-
addition of CO2 to EFAs and EVOs providing oleochemical car-
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bonates. For the sake of clarity, terminal cyclic carbonates pre-

pared from epoxidized fatty acid derivatives are initially dis-
cussed whereas the carbonation of internal epoxides present
in fatty acids and vegetable oils is discussed separately.

5.1 Terminal carbonates from EFA derivatives

A variety of terminal carbonates can be generated from methyl
10-undecenoate, a terminal fatty acid (tEFA) that in turn can
be obtained from the pyrolysis of methyl ricinoleate, which is
a main fatty acid component of renewable castor oil.194 In
Scheme 21, several possible synthetic routes are illustrated
leading to (terminal) mono- and bis-carbonates. Terminal car-
bonate tc1 can be obtained from the carbonation of epoxidized
methyl 10-undecenoate (route a, Scheme 21). In recent years, Scheme 22 Catalysts for the formation of fatty acid based CC tc1.

Scheme 21 Five-membered CC diversity derived from castor oil.

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between trialkylphosphines and halogenated alcohols under ponding CCs under ambient or very mild conditions without
ambient conditions. Using catalyst 9, the coupling of the epoxy the need for additional quaternary salts. Later on, 4/PPh3 was
precursor and CO2 was carried out in the temperature range applied for the conversion of several bio-based epoxides
45–90 °C and at 10 bar of CO2 pressure. A different single-com- including epoxidized methyl 10-undecenoate (Scheme 22).118
ponent organocatalyst for the carbonation of this epoxidized Whereas the calcium based complex 4, formed by the reaction
fatty acid is the triphenylphosphine derivative 10 bearing an of CaI2 with dicyclohexyl-functionalized 18-crown-6 ether
ortho-hydroxy functionality (Scheme 22).198 Importantly, due to (DCFCE), performed well in the carbonation of a benchmark
an optimal pKa, phenolic hydroxyl groups have been found substrate (i.e., methyl oleate), the addition of triphenyl-
among the best H-bonding activating moieties in the conver- phosphine (PPh3, 5 mol%) allowed for reducing the CO2
sion of epoxides into CCs.199 The presence and the position of pressure from 20 to 5 bar and the reaction temperature from
the hydroxy substituent in 10 was found to be crucial for its 60 to 45 °C. Under such conditions, epoxidized methyl
catalytic performance likely because it allows activation of the 10-undecenoate was efficiently converted into tc1 in 6 h.
epoxide in the proximity of the bromide anion associated to Bis-carbonates containing two terminal cyclic carbonate
the phosphonium group, with the halide acting as nucleophile moieties are useful synthons for the preparation of non-isocya-
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for the ring-opening of the epoxide. The latter aspect allowed nate based polyurethanes (NIPUs) by step-growth polymeriz-
the use of 10 also as organocatalyst for the carbonation of ation using diamine reagents.185,186,210,211 Leitner et al.
more challenging internal bio-based epoxides (vide infra). studied the carbonation of bis-epoxidized hex-5-enyl undec-10-
However, in comparison to the previously discussed single- enoate (route b, Scheme 21) to afford tc2, and this process was
component organocatalyst 9, the carbonation of epoxidized carried out under relatively harsh conditions using supercriti-
methyl 10-undecenoate using 10 required higher pressure (25 cal CO2 (scCO2) at 100 °C.212 In this case, the authors chose
bar) and longer reaction times. tetraheptylammonium silicotungstate containing chromium (a
In order to avoid the limitations related to the use of homo- polyoxometalate, POM, abbreviated as THA-Cr-Si-POM) in com-
geneous catalysts in terms of cost and product purification, bination with TBAB as the catalyst. The authors proposed that
immobilization of 10 onto polystyrene and a silica based the POM is capable of activating CO2 by binding it to the cata-
support was carried out to ease separation from the reaction lyst surface. However, this aspect was not experimentally
products and to allow for its recycling (11, Scheme 22) with the proven and it should be considered that the metal atoms
silica-supported catalyst 11 found to perform better than the (W, Cr) on the surface of the POM could, alternatively, acceler-
polystyrene-supported one.197 Catalyst 11 proved to be even ate the cycloaddition reaction by acting as Lewis acids. This
more active than its homogeneous counterpart achieving a sat- could facilitate the ring-opening of the epoxide in a similar
isfactory yield in the carbonation of the same epoxide in 6 h at way as observed in MOFs,213,214 and metalated porous
10 bar of CO2 pressure. The increased activity of the supported polymers.215,216 Despite the harsh reaction conditions, the
catalyst was attributed to the presence of abundant Si–OH moi- advantage of the binary, heterogeneous system THA-Cr-Si-
eties on thermally untreated silica likely acting as additional POM/TBAB was its simple separation from the products and
hydrogen-bonding moieties.200,201 Catalyst 11 could be recov- the potential implementation of a flow process.
ered and reused for over ten catalytic cycles, albeit some leach- Cramail et al. carried out the coupling between GC, a versatile
ing and deactivation was noted. biobased building block,217,218 with 10-undecenoyl chloride
As an alternative to the application of organocatalysts, in- leading to the preparation of CC tc3 (route c, Scheme 21)
expensive and readily available coordination compounds in com- bearing both terminal carbonate and alkene moieties.219 The
bination with ammonium and phosphonium salts have fre- same CC (tc3) was also prepared by Plasseraud et al. using a
quently found to act as highly active catalysts for the cyclo- different strategy that involves the ring opening of glycidol (Gly)
addition of CO2 to epoxides.202–204 Additionally, Lewis acids by undecylenic acid followed by carbonation of the obtained diol
based on earth-abundant iron-derived complexes are particularly with diethyl carbonate (route d, Scheme 21).220 Dimerization of
attractive.2,7,205,206 On the other hand, catalysts based on metal tc3 via self-metathesis using Grubbs catalyst gave access to bis-
halides are potentially corrosive and unlikely to find application carbonate tc4 that could be used to produce NIPUs by treatment
in industrial reactors.207,208 In this context, within a study on the with diamines. Cramail et al. also utilized 6-membered bis CCs
application of iron-based coordination compounds as Lewis derived from undecylenic acid using a procedure similar to
acids for the carbonation of several bio-based epoxides, Werner route d giving other types of NIPUs precursors.221
et al. investigated the catalytic performance of the binary catalyst A different strategy to advance the synthesis of cyclic bis-car-
tetra-n-octylphosphonium bromide 12/FeCl3 (Scheme 22) for the bonates for NIPUs using undecylenic acid derivatives was fol-
carbonation of epoxidized methyl 10-undecenoate.196 The com- lowed by Cramail and coworkers (route e, Scheme 21). This strat-
plete carbonation of this substrate was achieved in 6 h albeit egy consists of bridging two undecylenic acid units by flexible
under harsh reaction conditions (100 °C, 50 bar of CO2). “diamino or diol” linkers via transamidation or transesterifica-
More recently, the in situ complexation of calcium halides tion reactions.222 Following epoxidation of the terminal alkenes
by crown ethers allows to prepare soluble calcium-based cata- to afford a bis-epoxide precursor, the bis-carbonate product (tc5)
lysts (4, Scheme 22 and Fig. 4).209 This system was able to was produced quantitatively under harsh reaction conditions
convert several internal and terminal epoxides to their corres- (80–140 °C, 50–60 bar of CO2) using TBAB as the catalyst.

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control over the stereoselectivity to obtain the fatty acid based

cyclic carbonates as pure cis- or trans-isomers.
A general mechanism along with competitive side-reactions
is shown in Scheme 24 for a reaction catalyzed by a binary
catalyst comprising of a Lewis acid [M] and a nucleophilic
halide(X).224 Starting from a pure cis-epoxide, both cis and
trans configured CCs can be formed after an initial SN2-type
epoxide ring-opening step mediated by the halide that affords
a metal alkoxide.225,226 In the subsequent step, a hemicarbo-
nate intermediate is formed after CO2 insertion into the
metal–alkoxide bond. This linear carbonate species undergoes
a second, intramolecular nucleophilic substitution having
either SN1 or SN2 character that strongly depends on the
choice of the halide nucleophiles.227–229 Halides possessing
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excellent leaving group ability (i.e., Br and I) may provide

under suitable reaction conditions SN1 type chemistry with the
intermediacy of a carbocation. In this case, ring-closure of the
carbocation affords either the cis- or trans-carbonates with the
latter being typically the thermodynamically favored product.
Conversely, an anion with reduced leaving group ability (i.e.,
Cl) is less likely to provide an in situ generated carbocation. In
this case, a second SN2 at the same carbon atom of the

Scheme 23 Synthesis of terminal carbonated fatty acid diester (tc6)

and internal carbonated fatty acid diester (tc7).

Finally, terminal cyclic bis-carbonates were prepared also

from the methyl ester of oleic acid (MO, Scheme 23). The ethe-
nolysis of the latter is known to produce useful synthons such
as 9-decanoic acid methyl ester (9-DAME) and 1-decene.173
Cramail et al. coupled two molecules of 9-DAME by transesteri-
fication with pentanediol catalyzed by Zn(OAc)2 at 140 °C.
Alternatively, parent MO was directly transesterified with pen-
tanediol to afford an intermediate with internal double
bonds.223 Epoxidation of both compounds led to bis-epoxides
serving as precursors for their respective CCs, which was
carried out under close-to-supercritical or supercritical con-
ditions using TBAB as a catalyst. Terminal bis-carbonate tc6
was found to be more reactive than the bis-internal one tc7
despite the latter being more soluble in the liquid CO2 phase.

5.2 Internal carbonates from EFA derivatives

The synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxidized fatty acids
with internal epoxy groups (iEFAs) is more complex than from
terminal ones (tEFAs) because of the increased steric hin-
drance around the epoxy groups and the occurrence of
rearrangement and/or isomerization processes compromising
Scheme 24 General mechanism of the coupling reaction between a
the selectivity and thus the yield of the targeted product. In
fatty acid containing internal epoxide units and CO2 catalyzed by a
the case of iEFAs, the internal epoxides are generally available binary system [M]/X. X is a halide source such as an ammonium or phos-
in the stereochemically pure cis-configuration, and an attrac- phonium salt. iCFA stands for internal carbonated fatty acid, K for a
tive challenge is to perform the carbonation reaction with ketone byproduct.

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Table 3 The catalytic comparison of the cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1 producing iCFA1 depending on the metal complex/halide combinations
Published on 21 January 2021. Downloaded on 11/16/2023 1:57:13 PM.

I Br Cl

Selectivity
Selectivity Selectivity
Entry iEFA1 Cat. Conv. iCFA1a cis : trans b
Conv. iCFA1a cis : transb Conv. iCFA1a cis : transb Ref.
c d c d c d
1 cis 13 91 <1 : 99 85 15 : 85 72 76 : 24 230
2 cis 1Cl d d d
94 >99 76 : 24 >99 >99 95 : 5 187
3 cis 14 >99 19 17 : 83 98 74 24 : 76 69 >99 85 : 15 231
4 cis 15 89 79 39 : 61 95 91 64 : 36 64 92 94 : 6 224
5 trans 1Cl d d d d d d
65 99 <1 : 99 187
6 trans 13 78c d
17 : 83 81c d
11 : 89 79c d
7 : 93 230
a
Determined by 1H NMR from the integration of the peaks corresponding to the carbonates (cis iCFA1 + trans iCFA1) and ketone (K) by-product.
b
Cis : trans ratio determined by 1H NMR by integration of the corresponding signals of cis and trans carbonate products. c Isolated yield. d Not
reported.

metallo-hemicarbonate will undergo ring-closure while restor- and 3), whereas iCFA1 was preferentially formed when utiliz-
ing the initial configuration leading thus to a cis CC product. ing bifunctional catalyst 15 regardless of the nature of the
To further substantiate these concepts, the catalytic perform- halide (entry 4) though with the lowest stereocontrol towards
ance of several binary/bifunctional catalysts (1Cl and 13–15) incor- cis-iCFA1 in the presence of iodide. These results suggest that
porating different nucleophilic halides(X) is compared in Table 3. the use of iodide based catalysts have higher preference for the
For all catalysts featuring chloride nucleophiles, the cis-iCFA1 trans-carbonate product by favoring an SN1 pathway.229,230
was observed as the main product (entries 1–4). Furthermore, the The nature of the halide has thus a clear impact on the
use of 13/TBAI allowed the formation of trans-iCFA1 with nearly overall selectivity of the process, and ketones K are typical by-
complete diastereoselectivity.230 In agreement with the mechanis- products in the formation of iCFAs.24,116,118,196,212,224,231,232
tic picture of Scheme 24, the use of bromide or iodide as the Ketone formation is attributed to Meinwald rearrangement via
nucleophilic anion should lead to a decreased selectivity for the a 1,2-hydride shift in the presence of Lewis- or Brønsted acids
cis-isomer and thus increased selectivity for the trans isomer by (Scheme 24, below).124,233 For example, the formation mecha-
partially favoring the SN1 pathway (entries 1–4), and this appears nism of K proposed for YCl3 is shown in Scheme 25.234–236 In
to be generally the case. the case of CO2 cycloaddition to internal epoxides catalyzed by
Among the catalysts, simple and readily available L-ascorbic Lewis acids in the presence of halides as nucleophiles, the car-
acid 14/TBAC allowed the synthesis of the cis-iCFA1 from cis- bocation species ( precursor of the ketone via hydride shift)
iEFA1 with high diastereoselectivity (cis : trans = 85 : 15).231 The may be formed by dissociation of the halide from the alkoxide
system 14/TBAC showed (expectedly) lower substrate conver- intermediate similar to what discussed for the
sion than 14/TBAB and 14/TBAI but higher chemoselectivity SN1 mechanism. Therefore, catalysts with halides that can
towards cis-iCFA1 (>99%), whereas in the other two cases a sig- serve as good leaving groups (Br and I) are expected to favor
nificant amount of the side products were formed (entry 3). the formation of a ketone by-product (K), whereas catalysts
When 13/TBAI or 14/TBAI were selected as catalysts, trans- delivering a chloride nucleophile should suppress this side-
iCFA1 was observed as the main carbonate product (entries 1 product formation.

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Scheme 25 Plausible formation of ketone side-products via Meinwald

rearrangement in the presence of YCl3.234

Scheme 26 Dependency of catalytic activity and stereocontrol on the

This is in agreement with the observations when using cata- macrocyclic ligand structure in calcium-based crown ether complexes
lysts 14,231 and 15,224 with the selectivity for the carbonate in the cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1 to afford iCFA1.118
product cis-iCFA1 progressively decreasing in the series Cl > Br
> I (entries 3 and 4) in line with the ability of Cl-derived cata-
lysts to suppress the occurrence of undesired Meinwald inversion (or: double SN2) pathway in the formation of iCFAs.
rearrangement. The binary catalytic system 1Cl/PPNCl, that converts cis-iEFA1
Interestingly, the use of Lewis acid complex 1Cl led preferen- mostly to its corresponding carbonate cis-iCFA1 (entry 2,
tially to carbonate cis-iCFA1 as the major product independent Table 3), led to almost total diastereoselective formation of
of the use of chloride or bromide anions as nucleophiles trans-iCFA1 from trans-iEFA1 (entry 5, Table 3) in agreement
(entry 2). Finally, the formation of a carbocation from the with a double inversion pathway. Interestingly, the application
crucial alkoxide intermediate can also lead to cis-to-trans iso- of complex 13 for the carbonation of trans-iEFA1 led princi-
merization of the epoxide (Scheme 24, below). Indeed, trans- pally to trans-iCFA1 as the thermodynamically most stable
iEFA1 is often observed as minor by-product along with the isomer regardless of the type of halide employed (entry 6).
formation of trans-iCFA1 and ketones K.224 This observation is somewhat in contrast with that observed
Apart from the nature of the nucleophilic halide anion, for the carbonation of cis-iEFA1 where the use of iodide and
modifications of the (Lewis acid) structure can also play a role bromide as nucleophiles led to substantial degrees of inver-
in controlling the stereoselectivity and kinetics of the carbona- sion of configuration via a pseudo-SN1 mechanism (entry 1).
tion reaction. In the case of calcium-based crown ether com- These results suggest that the outcome of the cycloaddition
plexes, the use of complexes 4 and 16a (Scheme 26) containing process may be subject to a more complex set of interactions
fully aliphatic crown ether ligands and iodide as co-catalyst between the catalyst components and the substrate.
principally led to carbonate product iCFA1 with high cis-
selectivity, which is somehow different from the results
obtained using catalysts 13 and 14 in the presence of TBAI 5.3 Catalytic performances in the cycloaddition of CO2 to
where the principal product was the trans isomer of iCFA1.118 various iEFAs and EVOs: the role of quaternary salts
When part of the bridging groups were aromatic (16b), the Initial attempts to carry out the carbonation of EFAs where
selectivity switched from mostly cis to trans product though carried out using quaternary ammonium, phosphonium or
the overall yield (18%) of iCFA1 was low, likely due to the low other salts in the absence of Lewis acidic catalysts or HBDs. An
solubility of 16c in the reaction mixture. Similarly, by replacing overview of quaternary salts applied under various reaction
one oxygen for a nitrogen atom (16c) largely the formation of conditions for the carbonation of iEFAs1–3 derived from
trans-iCFA1 was noted. Finally, compound 16d with a single mono-unsaturated MO (iEFA1), bis-unsaturated methyl lino-
aromatic bridging unit displayed a catalytic performance leate (iEFA2) and, more rarely, tris-unsaturated methyl linole-
similar to that observed for 16a. All these results combined nate (iEFA3) is given in Table 4.223
indicate that, beside the choice of the nucleophilic halide The obvious advantage of using quaternary salts as catalysts
anion, other structural factors can contribute to the overall is that they are metal-free, generally inexpensive, and commer-
efficacy and stereo-outcome of the process. cially available. In addition, Doll and Erhan found that TBAB
Some authors examined the cycloaddition of CO2 to trans- can be conveniently removed from the product mixture by
iEFA1 (Table 3) as a way to confirm the occurrence of a double thermal breakdown into volatile compounds at 190 °C by

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Table 4 The catalytic performance of quaternary salts in the cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1–3

Reaction conditions T (°C), Selectivity Selectivity

Entry iEFA cat. (mol%) CO2 (bar), time (h) Conversiona (%) for iCFA (cis : trans)b Ref.
c d d
1 1 TBAB (5) 100, 103, 15 93 238
d
2 1 TBAF (5) 100, 117, 24 62 0 212
3 1 TBAC (5) 100, 117, 24 21 95 77 : 23 212
4 1 TBAB (5) 100, 117, 24 97 ≥99 72 : 28 212
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5 1 TBAI (5) 100, 117, 17 80 92 20 : 80 212

d
6 1 NH4Br 100, 117, 24 4 75 212
7 1 ((n-C7H15)4N)Br 100, 117, 24 99 ≥99 70 : 30 212
8 1 (C14mim)Br e 100, 117, 24 97 96 74 : 26 212
9 1 ((n-C14H29)(n-C6H13)3P)Br 100, 117, 24 97 97 69 : 31 212
d
10 2 TBAB (5) 100, 117, 24 71 95 212
d
11 3 TBAB (5) 100, 117, 24 68 89 212
12 1 TBAB (2) 100, 50, 16 39 82 46 : 56 224
13 1 15-Br (2) 100, 50, 16 49 94 71 : 29 224
14 1 15-Cl (2) 100, 50, 16 39 99 90 : 10 224
15 1 15-I (2) 100, 50, 16 35 71 57 : 43 224
d d
16 1 TBAB (7) 130, 30, 8 99 239
17 1 TBAB (5) 70, 10, 24 >99 >99 51 : 49 187
18 1 TBAC (5) 70, 10, 24 6 >99 >99 : 1 187
19 1 PPNCl (5) 70, 10, 24 53 >99 96 : 4 187
20 2 PPNCl (5) 85, 10, 24 95 >99 95 : 5 187
21 3 PPNCl (5) 70, 10, 24 75 >99 90 : 10 187
22 1 TBAI (5) 100, 5, 24 70 59 22 : 78 231
23 1 TBAB (5) 100, 5, 24 83 87 36 : 64 231
24 1 TBAC (5) 100, 5, 24 44 >99 90 : 10 231
a
Conversion determined by titration and/or 1H NMR. b Cis : trans ratio determined by 1H NMR by integration of the corresponding signals of cis
and trans carbonate products. c Isolated yield. d Not reported. e (C14mim)Br = 1-n-tetradecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide.

Hofmann elimination.237 In different studies, the use of halide selected as catalyst for the conversion of other substrates such
salts often required harsh reaction conditions such as the use as cis-iEFA2 and cis-iEFA3, obtaining satisfactory performances
of scCO2 (entries 1–11, Table 4) or temperatures above 100 °C despite a slight drop in conversion and carbonate selectivity
(entry 16) to convert iEFA1–3 to their corresponding carbon- (entries 10 and 11).
ates iCFA1–3 in reasonable to high yields. Similar results under comparable reaction conditions were
Based on the earlier report by Doll and Erhan highlighting found for substrate cis-iEFA2 in a later study by Buchholz
the catalytic competence of TBAB in the carbonation of iEFA1 et al.24 However, Werner and coworkers demonstrated that the
under supercritical conditions (entry 1),238 Leitner et al. catalytic performance is strongly reduced together with some
showed that the employment of several quaternary ammonium loss of selectivity for iCFA1 when using TBAB for the carbona-
halides for the cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1 under scCO2 con- tion of cis-iEFA1 at 100 °C but lower CO2 pressure (50 bar) and
ditions generally provided the target carbonate with good con- lower catalyst loading (2 mol%; cf., entries 4 and 12).224 In the
version rates and selectivities (entries 2–9). Exceptions in this same study it was observed that the use of tetrabutyl-
series were NH4Br and tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF) phosphonium halides, in particular 15-Br and 15-Cl, leads to
because of the poor leaving group character of the fluoride slight improvement in terms of epoxide conversion and iCFA
anion (see entries 2 and 6) and the tighter ion pair when using selectivity compared to TBAB under identical conditions (cf.,
ammonium cations.212 In line with earlier results discussed in entry 12 and 13–15). In addition, Leveneur et al. showed that
section 5, all salts employed provided cis-iEFA1 as the main the use of a slightly higher TBAB loading (7 mol%) at 130 °C
stereoisomer with the exception of TBAI for which the trans- allowed complete conversion of cis-iEFA1 under 30 bar CO2
isomer was found to be the main product (entry 5). The use of pressure as an alternative for supercritical conditions, though
ammonium or phosphonium salts bearing longer alkyl chains the selectivity towards iCFA1 was not reported (entry 16).239
compared to TBAB did not lead to any significant improve- Recently, the group of Kleij studied the performance of
ment of the catalytic activity (entries 7–9). Therefore, TBAB was various halide salts in an attempt to develop catalysts able to

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operate under milder conditions.187 They found that TBAB carbonated using TBAB as catalyst under supercritical con-
converts cis-iEFA1 quantitatively into iCFA1 at 70 °C and 10 ditions as described in the previous example. The resulting
bar of CO2, although without any observable stereocontrol carbonated estolides displayed increased viscosity and higher
(entry 17). The use of TBAC, however, provided cis-iCFA1 selec- oxidation stability (oxidation onset around 200 °C) compared
tively but only at very low epoxide conversion, while the use of to the non-functionalized estolides and its epoxy derivatives,
PPNCl as chloride source led to higher conversion of cis-iEFA1 thus offering good candidates for application as industrial
maintaining very high selectivity for cis-iCFA1 (cf., entries 18 fluids.
and 19). PPNCl served also as an efficient and stereoselective Beside the case of EFAs, the carbonation of EVOs (Table 5)
catalyst for carbonation of cis-iEFA2 and cis-iEFA3 at 70–85 °C such as epoxidized vernonia, castor, soybean, linseed, sun-
and 10 bar of CO2 (entries 20 and 21). flower, cottonseed and olive oils has been extensively
Recently, it was shown that quaternary ammonium salts studied.243 The resulting CVOs (Table 5) are attractive synthons
give appreciable conversion levels of cis-iEFA1 at 5 bar of CO2 for the synthesis of NIPUs by reaction with
and 100 °C. Under these conditions, the stereocontrol exerted diamines,23,185,211,244–251 and find applications in paints, coat-
by TBAI in the preparation of cis-iCFA1 is moderately high, ings, and bio-based materials.252,253 Remarkably, some pro-
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and similar results are obtained switching to TBAB though perties such as the thermal stability and oxidative stability of
with significantly higher chemoselectivity for iCFA1. The use polyurethanes (PUs) derived from soybean oil were found to
of TBAC led to moderate epoxide conversion but with very high rival those of PUs derived from poly( propylene oxide).254
overall selectivity for cis-iCFA1 (cf., entries 22–24). The synthesis of CVOs has been principally carried out on
A further expansion of the portfolio of fatty acid-derived epoxidized linseed, sunflower and soybean oils due to the rela-
CCs can be realized by using epoxidized estolides as starting tively high epoxy content that can be introduced in the fatty
point. This class of compounds is generated by the reaction acid alkyl chains. The cycloaddition reaction of CO2 to such
between a carboxylic acid of a fatty acid with a double bond or EVOs has often been carried out using TBAB as the catalyst
hydroxyl moiety of another one.232,240 The estolide compounds (Table 5). As in the case of EFAs (see entries Table 4), these
are attractive functional fluids when compared to standard reactions are conveniently performed at high pressure (CO2 ≥
vegetable oils because of a higher stability towards oxidation 50 bar) or under sc-CO2 conditions (entries 1–10, Table 5)
and lower pour points.241 The epoxidation and carbonation of often in combination with high reaction temperatures
estolides can be used to further tune crucial properties of (120–140 °C). However, the CO2 pressure can be reduced to 4
these compounds such as viscosity.242 bar when the carbonation reaction is carried out at ≥110 °C
In an initial study, Isbell et al. used 2-ethylhexyl estolide (entries 11–15). Under these conditions, high to nearly quanti-
esters of oleic acids constituted by a complex mixture of oligo- tative conversion of the epoxide groups was generally observed,
mers generated by the addition of the carboxylic acid of oleic however the selectivities for the carbonate products have
acid to the double bond of other oleate chains.242 Following seldom been reported. Leitner et al. observed a relatively low
epoxidation using in situ generated performic acid, the epoxi- selectivity (73%) for carbonate formation in the cycloaddition
dized estolide was successfully carbonated using TBAB as the of CO2 to epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) under supercritical
catalyst under scCO2 conditions at ∼100 bar of CO2 and conditions (entry 5).212 Further attempts were carried out for
100 °C. The viscosity of the carbonated estolide was substan- the carbonation of EVOs under atmospheric pressure at T ≥
tially higher than that of the parent epoxidized estolide. The 110 °C using TBAB or TBAI as catalyst by extending the reac-
same group developed the synthesis of estolide esters obtained tion time to 40–70 h (entries 16–19). In some of these cases,
through the reaction between oleic acid and the hydroxyl despite the disappearance of epoxide and the appearance of
group of saturated and unsaturated alkyl esters of castor oil IR-bands for the carbonate CvO stretching were observed, the
(Scheme 27).232 The resulting compounds were epoxidized and actual chemoselectivity for the CC was not reported.255,256
Mazo and Rios observed that the addition of water (about
33 mol%) significantly accelerates the carbonation of ESBO
thus obtaining the corresponding CVO under atmospheric
pressure with good conversion and selectivity in 70 h (entry
18).257 This result is in line with the known ability of water to
serve as a HBD in the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides.258
Additionally, the same authors have shown that a further accel-
eration of the reaction rate can be achieved by combining the
addition of water to the use of a microwave reactor resulting in
a reduction of the reaction time to 40 h without affecting the
selectivity for the carbonated product (entry 19).259
Finally, several examples of comprehensive physico-
chemical studies on the carbonation of EVOs in the presence
Scheme 27 The synthesis of estolides from oleic acid and castor oil of TBAB have been carried out. These studies concern reaction
alkyl esters. kinetics modelling, the role of mass transfer, CO2 solubility,

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Table 5 Catalytic comparison of cycloaddition of CO2 to EVOs catalyzed by TBAB

Entry EVO TBAB (mol%) Reaction conditions T (°C), CO2 (bar), time (h) Conversiona (%) Selectivitya for CVOs Ref.
b c d
1 Soybean 5 140, 152, 18 96 263
2 Sucrose soyate 5b 140, 131, 20 70c d
263
d
3 Soybean 16.6 100, 138, 46 96 264
d
4 Soybean 4.5 140, 124, 54 99 265
5 Soybean 5 100, 117, 24 47 73 212
6 Soybean 2.7i 120, 100, 9 100 d
266
d
7 Soybean 5 100, 100, 20 94 237
d
8 Soybean 0.18 140, 56.5, 22 98 267
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d
9 Cottonseed 3.5 130, 50, 7 94 268
d
10 Sunflower 3.5 120, 50, 12 86 269
d
11 Cottonseed 5 140, 30, 24 99.9 270
d
12 Linseed 3 140, 30, 20 100 271
13 Soybean 3.4i 140, 10, 23 97 d
272
d
14 Castor 5 130, 5, 8 93 273
15 Soybean 5 110, 4, 12 100e d
274
16 Soybean 5f 110, 1, 70 100 d
255
17 Linseed 5 100, 1, 72 100g d
256
18 Soybeanh 5 120, 1, 70 77 89 257
19 Soybeanh 5 120, 1, 40 80 92 259
a
Conversion/selectivity determined by titration and/or 1H NMR. b Weight percent (wt%) loading. c Weight percent (wt%), epoxide conversion
determined by epoxy titration according to ASTM D 1652. d Not Reported. e Conversion determined by FTIR. f TBAI loading in mol%. g Conversion
determined by FTIR analysis of the reaction mixture at intervals of 24 h until completion. h Addition of water, with a molar ratio H2O : EVO of
1 : 3. i Weight percent.

substrate viscosity, the differences between EFAs and EVOs CO2 to epoxides.202,203,229 They are usually commercially avail-
and the effect of microwave irradiation on the process kinetics, able and can be easily immobilized onto silica
and were carried out by Leveneur et al.260–262 These important, supports.225,275,276 However, in the case of metal halide salts,
but rather technical studies are not described in detail in this their large-scale application could be limited by their relatively
section. low moisture stability and by the risk of reactor corrosion.207
Polyoxometalates (POMs) are clusters of metal atoms con-
5.4 Catalytic performance of binary catalytic systems in the nected by oxo-bridges and terminated by anionic MO moieties.
cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1: metal salts and coordination Such compounds are able to activate CO2/epoxides via
compounds interaction with the basic oxygen atoms and Lewis acidic
The vast majority of catalytic systems for the cycloaddition of metal centers of the POM.277 Based on this dual activation
CO2 to epoxides are binary systems. These systems typically ability, the halogen-free cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides
involve one component (Lewis acid or HBD) coordinating or catalyzed by transition-metal-substituted silicotungstates
better activating the epoxide substrate, and a nucleophilic ([n-C7H15)4N]6[α-SiW11O39M(II)], with M = Mn, Co) was demon-
component that serves to ring-open the activated strated by Sakakura et al. already in 2005.278 The sustainable
epoxide.30,183,184 These bicomponent catalysts often allow for character of this approach was limited by the harsh reaction
the cycloaddition reactions to take place under relatively mild conditions (150 °C, 35 bar of CO2) and the need for a reaction
or even ambient conditions when compared to the exclusive solvent.
use of (quaternary) halide salts.1 Later in 2013, Leitner et al. employed [(n-
In recent years, several examples of binary catalytic systems C7H15)4N]5[α-SiW11O39Cr(III)] (THA-Cr-Si-POM) for the carbona-
suitable for the mild and stereoselective carbonation of EFAs tion of iEFAs in scCO2.212 As expected, under harsh conditions
and EVOs have been developed and are discussed in this and (100 °C, ∼130 bar of CO2), THA-Cr-Si-POM (2 mol%) was able
following sections, by taking iEFA1 as a model substrate, to catalyze the quantitative conversion of iEFA1 to cis-iCFA1 in
according to the kind of epoxide-activator including metal 20 h. However, the authors also observed that the addition of
coordination compounds, metal–organic catalysts and equimolar, catalytic amounts of TBAB could accelerate the
organocatalysts. reaction that was complete in 6 h (entry 1, Table 6).
Coordination compounds and metal salts represent readily More recent, the use of coordination compounds and metal
available and inexpensive compounds for the cycloaddition of salts for the carbonation of fatty acids has led to the discovery

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Table 6 The comparison of the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxidized MO (iEFA1) catalyzed by coordination compounds and metal salts
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Entry Cat/add. (mol%) T, p, t (°C, bar, h) Yield iCFA1 (%) Sel.a iCFA1 (%) Sel.a cis vs trans Ref.

1 THA-Cr-Si-POM (2.0) 100, 130, 6 95 98 96 : 4 212

TBAB (2.0)
2 15-Br (2.0) 100, 50 98 98 77 : 23 224
MoO3 (0.25) 20
3 12 (2.0) 100, 50 96 96 68 : 32 196
FeCl3 (0.25) 24
c
4 CaI2 90, 50 91 53 : 47 280
PEG-DME 500 (5.0)b 48
c
5 4 (5.0) 45, 5 86 84 : 16 118
Ph3P (5.0) 24
d c c
6 KI (2.0) 100, 50 8 281
TEA (2/2) 16
a
Cis : trans ratios and selectivity towards iCFA1 determined by 1H NMR from the integration of the corresponding signals of cis and trans carbon-
ate products. b PEG DME 500: oligo(ethyleneglycol) dimethyl ether with Mn ∼ 400 g mol−1. c Not reported. d Conversion determined by GC ana-
lysis. THA = tetra-n-heptyl ammonium, p is the partial pressure of CO2 and TEA is triethanolamine.

of binary systems operating under milder conditions than the calcium are generally insoluble in most reaction media,
THA-Cr-Si-POM reported by Leitner. Werner et al. extensively Werner et al. showed that the use of chelating ligands (crown
studied the application of coordination compounds as addi- ethers) in combination with calcium halides leads to soluble
tives for the cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1. Initial studies and highly active Lewis acids for CO2/epoxide
involved the application of phosphonium salts 12 and 15 in cycloaddition.118,209,280–282 The in situ complexation of CaI2 by
combination with commercially available coordination metal poly(ethylene glycol)dimethyl ether (PEG-DME-500) further
compounds of transition metals such as MoO3 and FeCl3 promotes the nucleophilicity of the iodide anion leading to a
under relatively harsh conditions (100 °C, 50 bar of CO2; system able to mediate the cycloaddition of CO2 to terminal
entries 2 and 3 in Table 6).196,224 The presence of MoO3 and internal epoxides including iEFA1 (entry 4, Table 6).280
appeared as a more convenient choice for iEFA1 conversion Alternatively, crown ethers are effective complexing agents for
and carbonate selectivity in a wider screening of metal salts CaI2 leading to highly active calcium catalysts such as 4 for
(mostly Al- and Mo-based) in the presence of 15-Br (see also the cycloaddition of CO2 to terminal epoxides under ambient
Table 3) as the nucleophile. conditions.209 Catalyst 4 can be successfully applied for the
Interestingly, compared to the exclusive use of phos- carbonation of iEFA1 under relatively mild conditions (60 °C,
phonium salts as catalysts, the addition of coordination com- 20 bar of CO2). In addition, it was found to work under
pounds accelerate iEFA1 conversion at the cost of a slight drop even milder conditions (45 °C, 5 bar of CO2, entry 5) when
in carbonate selectivity.224 Under the same reaction con- used in the presence of a relatively high loading (5 mol%) of
ditions, the use of FeCl3 in the presence of phosphonium salts PPh3 obtaining iCFA1 mostly as the cis-isomer.118 In a
(12 or 15-Br) led to a similar result as MoO3.196 The use of previous study, the same group showed that KI, a frequently
iron-based catalysts is considered advantageous, since Fe is an used source of nucleophilic iodide,283 forms an efficient cata-
earth-abundant, non-toxic and non-endangered lyst for the carbonation of terminal epoxides when combined
metal.2,7,205,279 with triethanolamine as HBD, although this catalyst was
Similarly, the application of calcium may be seen as more virtually inactive for the conversion of iEFA1 (entry 6),281 justi-
sustainable compared to the use of transition metals in cata- fying the design of more sophisticated binary catalyst
lyst systems. Whereas most coordination compounds of architectures.

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5.5 Catalytic performance of binary catalytic systems in the complexes derived from aluminum (1R, Table 3) and vanadium
CO2 cycloaddition to iEFA1: metal complexes (19, Table 7) are highly chemo- and stereoselective Lewis acids
for the carbonation of iEFA1 under comparatively mild con-
Metal complexes based on Schiff-base ligands are among the ditions (75–80 °C, 10 bar of CO2) in the presence of TBAB,
most studied metal–organic compounds often displaying obtaining cis-iCFA1 (entries 3 and 4), with the V-based binary
remarkable catalytic activity for the cycloaddition of CO2 to catalyst 19/TBAB only providing moderate conversion.
terminal epoxides.121,284,285 Thus, it is not surprising that One peculiar feature of Al-aminotriphenolate complexes is
these complexes have also been studied for the carbonation of their capability to catalyze the conversion of CO2 and epoxy
EFAs. alcohols such as glycidol and its derivative, to cyclic carbon-
Masdeu-Bultó et al. prepared NN′O- and N2O2-type Schiff- ates in the absence of nucleophilic additives. The conversion
base ligands that were used for the complexation of earth- of epoxy alcohols has been proposed to take place by for-
abundant metals such as zinc,286 and aluminum, respectively mation of a carbonic acid hemi-ester stabilized by the metal–
(complexes 17 and 18, Table 7).287 These complexes were organic Lewis acid.17,18,75 A similar mechanism was proposed
found to be active Lewis acidic catalysts for the cycloaddition when epoxidized methyl ricinoleate was combined with CO2 in
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of CO2 to terminal epoxides, but their application for the car- the presence of 1Cl.187 Despite the initial cis-configuration of
bonation of iEFA1 required harsh reaction conditions (100 °C, the epoxide precursor, in the absence of halide nucleophiles
100 bar of CO2) to afford only moderate yields of iCFA1 the trans-isomer of carbonate product was obtained in high
(entries 1 and 2). Under these conditions, catalyst 18/TBAB yield and selectivity indicating effective inversion of configur-
proved to be much faster with reaction times as short as ation (entry 5, Table 7). To explain this observation and in line
30 min.287 with their previous findings,17,75 the authors postulated a
Aminotriphenolates (TPA) complexes, extensively studied by mechanism in which an Al-stabilized carbonic acid-like inter-
the group of Kleij,206,288–291 are a different class of highly mediate, formed by reaction of the substrate with CO2, first
efficient and strongly Lewis acidic metal complexes for the evolves into a six-membered carbonate intermediate by nucleo-
cycloaddition of CO2 to internal epoxides. In particular, TPA philic attack on the nearest epoxide carbon (Scheme 28). A

Table 7 Comparison of the catalytic cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxidized MO (iEFA1) in the presence of various Schiff base and aminotriphenolate
metal complexes

Entry Cat/add. (mol%) T, p, t (°C, bar, h) Yield/sel.a for iCFA1 (%) Sel.a cis : trans Ref.

1 17 (2.0) 100, 100, 24 53, b 95 : 5 286

TBAB (2.0)
2 18 (2.0) 100, 100, 0.5 63, b 52 : 48 287
TBAB (2.0)
3 19 (0.5) 85, 10, 18 46, >99 >99 : 1 291
TBAB (5.0)
4 1Cl (0.5) 70, 10, 24 99d, >99 97 : 3 187
PPNCl (3.0)
5c 1Cl (1.0) 70, 10, 24 99 d, 99 < 1 : 99 187
6 13 (1.0) 100, 5, 91, b < 1 : 99 230
TBAI (10) 24
a
Cis : trans ratio and selectivity for iCFA1 determined by 1H NMR from the integration of the corresponding signals of cis and trans carbonate pro-
ducts, and substrate/side-products. b Not reported. c Using epoxidized methyl ricinoleate (cis) as the substrate. Note that p is the partial pressure
of CO2. d Conversion, determined by 1H NMR.

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the Fe-center becomes available for the coordination (acti-

vation) of the epoxide prior to nucleophilic attack by the liber-
ated halide. In principle, the free NHC fragment stemming
from 13 can also play a role in the reaction by capturing and
activating CO2,293 but in this specific case this was not dis-
cussed or proven.

5.6 Catalytic performance of organocatalysts in the

cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1

Scheme 28 Proposed mechanism for the conversion of CO2 to epoxi- Organocatalysts have received considerable attention as rela-
dized methyl ricinoleate catalyzed by Al-complex 1Cl. tively nontoxic, readily available, and in most cases moisture-
insensitive compounds.294–297 In the cycloaddition of CO2 to
epoxides, organocatalysts are often applied as single-com-
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subsequent nucleophilic attack of the produced oxyanion on ponent nucleophilic species, such as DBU, TBD and 4-di-
the electrophilic carbon center of the latter carbonate would methylamino-pyridine (DMAP), or as HBDs in the presence of
then lead to formation of the final trans-carbonate with stereo- nucleophilic halide sources.1,5,31,298 Thus far, the organocata-
inversion. lyzed carbonation of fatty acids has been generally carried out
Recently, Liu and coworkers reported the cycloaddition of using both binary and bifunctional catalytic systems, with the
CO2 to iEFAs catalyzed by the iron bis-pincer complex 13 second category embedding halide nucleophiles and HBD
(Table 3).230 By using a large amount of TBAI (10 mol%, entry moieties within the same molecule.
6, Table 7) at 100 °C and low CO2 pressure (5 bar), iEFA1 was The Werner group developed two families of bifunctional
fully converted to trans-iCFA1 (entry 6, Table 7) according to an phosphonium halides (such as 9, Scheme 22),195 and
SN1 pathway described in Scheme 24. Independent from the ammonium halides (such as 20, Table 8),299 bearing hydroxyl
substrate, the authors managed to control the stereochemistry groups for the activation of epoxides. Such catalysts performed
of the final carbonate iCFA1 by proper selection of a suitable efficiently in the carbonation of terminal epoxides under mild
nucleophilic halide as described in section 5.2. conditions (45–90 °C, 5–10 bar of CO2).
Based on previous investigations, the authors proposed that When using iEFA1 as the substrate, 9 promotes its chemo-
13 acts as a precatalyst in this cycloaddition process by gener- selective carbonation in good yields under demanding reaction
ating an iron-based Lewis acid (LA) and a (free) N-heterocyclic conditions (100 °C, 50 bar of CO2), whereas 20 was less
carbene (NHC), see Scheme 29.292 efficient under similar conditions providing only low yields of
In the presence of TBAB, the Lewis acid is supposed to iCFA1 (cf., entries 1 and 2, Table 8). In both cases, the carbon-
evolve into hexa-coordinated tri-halide –ate complexes of type ate product was obtained as a mixture of cis and trans stereoi-
[Fe(CNN)X3] (structures A–C in Scheme 29). According to DFT somers. Due to their higher acidity, phenolic hydroxyls are
calculations, compound C is the most stable one. After dis- more active HBDs in the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides than
sociation of one of the halide anions, a coordination site on aliphatic hydroxyls.199 Werner prepared bifunctional phenolic
phosphonium salts (such as 10; see also Scheme 22) and
applied them for the cycloaddition of CO2 to fatty acids. The
carbonation of iEFA1 proceed quantitatively under signifi-
cantly milder conditions than for aliphatic HBDs (entry 3)
though without any stereocontrol.198 The same group reported
the immobilization of 10 either on a traditional support such
as silica (i.e., catalyst structure 11; see also Scheme 22),197 or
on amorphous hydrogenated carbon coating through a
plasma-assisted method leading to recyclable catalysts 21.300
The application of these heterogeneous compounds for the
carbonation of iEFA1 at lower CO2 pressure compared to the
homogeneous catalyst 10 led to low yields of iCFA1 (entries 4
and 5).
Dai et al. reported a multifunctional pincer-type organo-
catalyst (22) for the cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1. This catalyst
bears several active functionalities such as a nucleophilic imi-
dazolium iodide, a pyridine moiety, –NH and –OH (carboxylic
Scheme 29 Proposed catalytically competent species generated from
and phenolic) HBDs groups.301 Higher loadings of 22 and
13 under the applied reaction conditions. Tetra-n-butylammonium TBAI were required to produce moderate yields of iCFA1
cations (TBA) are omitted for clarity. mostly as the trans-isomer.

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Table 8 The comparison of cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxidized MO both catalyst components of 14/TBAC led to quantitative iEFA1
(iEFA1) catalyzed by various organocatalytic binary/bifunctional systems conversion at 5 bar CO2 pressure at 100 °C (entry 7).

5.7 Catalytic performance of binary catalysts in the

cycloaddition of CO2 to polyunsaturated EFAs
Several of the catalytic systems discussed before were also
applied for the carbonation of bis-unsaturated epoxidized lino-
leic acid methyl ester iEFA2 (entries 1–10, Table 9). Generally,
the reaction conditions optimized for the carbonation of iEFA1
highlighted in the previous sections could be successfully
applied to the conversion of iEFA2, therefore there will not be
any detailed discussion of each example. For systems operating
under supercritical conditions (entries 1 and 2), good epoxide
conversion rates and iCFA2 selectivities were obtained using
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alkali metals halides in combination with crown ethers.24 The

best results were obtained using KI/[18]crown-6 (entry 2).
Whereas other catalytic systems could afford the carbonation
of iEFA2 under subcritical conditions (entries 3 and 4) or even
at moderate CO2 pressures (entries 5–10), the mildest con-
Cat/add. T, p, t Yield/sel. of Sel.a
Entry (mol%) (°C, bar, h) iCFA1a (%) cis : trans Ref. ditions were reported for the in situ generated complex
between CaI2 and [18]crown-6 (4) combined with PPh3
1 9 (5.0) 100, 50, 24 65, >99 40 : 60 195
2 20 (2.0) 100, 50, 16 20b, >99 48 : 52 299 (entry 9).118 It is worth noting that the combination of complex
3 10 (5.0) 80, 25, 24 98, c 54 : 46 198 1Cl and PPNCl performed also well in the carbonation of iEFA2 at
4 21 (1.0) 90, 10, 24 30, c 28 : 72 300 slightly higher temperature providing a shorter reaction time and
5 11 (2.0) 90, 10, 24 26d,c 43 : 57 197
6 22 (4.0) 100, 5, 24 51, c 19 : 81 301 with high (chemo)selectivity for cis-10b (entry 7).187
TBAI (12) Finally, organocatalysts 10 (entry 5),198 and 14/TBAC
7 14 (1.5) 100, 5, 48 90, >99 77 : 23 231 (entry 6),231 also performed well under different reaction
TBAC (5.0)
conditions, with 14 achieving a selectivity for cis-iCFA2 close to
a
Cis : trans ratio determined by 1H NMR by integration of the corres- that observed with Al-based 1Cl.
ponding signals of cis and trans carbonate products, isolated yields of Few catalytic systems have been reported to date that are
iCFA1 are given. b GC yield. c Not reported. d Yield determined by 1H
NMR using mesitylene as the internal standard. Note that p is the able to mediate the cycloaddition of CO2 to tris-epoxide iEFA3
partial pressure of CO2. derived from triply unsaturated linolenic acid (entries 11–14).
To note, under scCO2 conditions, the binary system THA-Cr-Si-
POM/TBAB afforded only poor yields of iCFA3 because of a low
chemoselectivity for the tris-carbonate product (entry 11).212
Despite its excellent catalytic activity, compound 10 was pre- Under considerably milder conditions, the use of 1Cl/PPNCl
pared from the reaction between expensive and toxic (2-hydro- provided iCFA3 with excellent conversion and carbonate
xyphenyl)-diphenylphosphine (hazard: GSH07) and carcino- selectivity with an approximate and overall 2 : 1 cis/trans
genic 1-bromopropane (hazard: GSH08). Similarly, the syn- isomer ratio (entry 12).187 However, excellent selectivity for all-
thesis of 22 required 2,6-dibromopyridine as the starting cis iCFA3 in appreciable yield was achieved by replacing the
material and a two-step CuI-mediated coupling process.301 In chlorine for tert-butyl substituents in complex 1 (entry 13). The
order to better exploit the generally assumed benefits of orga- organocatalytic pair 14/TBAC achieved comparable results by
nocatalysis (lower catalyst cost and toxicity), the application of applying similar reaction conditions but using a longer reac-
ubiquitous biobased compounds such as amino acids,302,303 tion time (48 h versus 24 h, entry 14).231
peptides,304–306 sugars,307 and vitamins,308 would be highly
attractive.309 5.8 Catalytic performance of binary catalytic systems in the
In this context, L-ascorbic acid (14), a well-established bio- cycloaddition of CO2 to EVOs
based HBD for the cycloaddition of heterocumulenes to epox- Whereas the cycloaddition of CO2 to EVOs produced from
ides under ambient or mild conditions,310,311 was applied in several vegetable oils (soybean, linseed, olive, sunflower etc.)
combination with TBAC for the cycloaddition of CO2 to has been reported, here we mostly focus on the carbonation of
iEFAs.231 Ascorbic acid was found to accelerate the quaternary ESBO as a benchmark substrate. The catalytic performance of
ammonium salt-catalyzed cycloaddition of CO2 to iEFA1, with various catalyst systems for the carbonation of EVOs is sum-
the binary combination 14/TBAC showing the best perform- marized and discussed in Table 10.
ance in terms of iCFA1 selectivity (see also Table 3). Under Several catalytic systems already highlighted in Tables 7–9
similar reaction conditions as reported for 22/TBAI apart from could be successfully applied, under optimized conditions, for
the longer reaction time (48 h), the use of a lower loading of the conversion of EVOs into CVOs (entries 1, 4–6, 9–11),

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Table 9 Comparison of the catalytic cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxidized methyl linoleate (iEFA2) and epoxidized methyl linolenate (iEFA3)

Entry iEFA Cat/additivea (mol%) T, p, t (°C, bar, h) Conv.b (%) Sel. For iCFAb Yield (%) Sel. (cis : trans)c Ref.
d e e
1 iEFA2 THA-Cr-Si-POM (2.0) 100, 130, 6 85 50 212
TBAB (2.0)
2 iEFA2 KI (5.0 wt%) 100, 100, 17 90 f 97 e e
24
18-C-6 (3.5 wt%)
e e
3 iEFA2 12 (1.0) 100, 50, 48 99 85 196
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FeCl3 (0.13)
4 iEFA2 15-Br (1.0) 100, 50, 40 88 93 82 70 : 30 224
MoO3 (0.13)
e
5 iEFA2 10 (2.5) 80, 25, 48 >99 >99 99 198
6 iEFA2 14 (0.75) 100, 10, 48 >99 94 85 91 : 9 231
TBAC (1.5)
7 iEFA2 1Cl (0.30) 70, 10, 24 >99 >99 e
97 : 3 187
PPNCl (5.0)
e e e
8 iEFA2 22 (4.0) 100, 5, 48 43 301
TBAI (12)
e e e
9 iEFA2 4 (10) 45, 5, 48 90 118
PPh3 (10)
e e
10 iEFA2 13 (1.0) 100, 5, 24 84 16 : 84 230
TBAI (10)
11 iEFA3 THA-Cr-Si-POM (2.0)d 100, 130, 6 71 12 e e
212
TBAB (2.0)
12 iEFA3 1Cl (0.20) 70, 10, 24 >99 >99 e
68 : 32 187
PPNCl (5.0)
13 iEFA3 1tBu (1.0) 70, 10, 24 92 >99 e
96 : 4 187
PPNCl (5.0)
14 iEFA3 14 (1.5) 80, 10, 48 94 93 75 93 : 7 231
TBAC (5.0)
a
The loading value in brackets is relative to the total amount of epoxides unit. b Conversion and selectivity determined by 1H NMR. c Overall cis :
trans ratio determined by 1H NMR from the integration of the corresponding signals of cis and trans carbonate units. d THA = tetra-n-heptylam-
monium. e Not reported. f Conversion determined by 1H NMR and GC. Note that p is the partial pressure of CO2, 18-C-6 is short for 18-crown-6.

although in the case of THA-Cr-Si-POM/TBAB only a relatively able to these aforementioned Lewis acid based systems for the
modest yield of carbonated product was observed (entry 1).212 carbonation of ESBO in the presence of TBAB albeit at a sig-
Therefore, these examples will not be discussed in detail to nificantly higher reaction temperature (entry 7).315 In a related
avoid overlap with previous sections. A different system able to contribution, the same authors showed that CaCl2/TBAB can
efficiently carbonate ESBO under supercritical conditions was be used for the synthesis of carbonated soybean oil (CSBO)
developed by Jerome, Detrembleur et al. in a study targeting under a flow of atmospheric CO2 at 110 °C, although at the
the preparation of NIPU foams from CVOs.312 The authors expense of the reaction time.254
used TBAB in the presence of fluorinated HBD [1,3-bis(2- A different, readily available and highly Lewis acidic com-
hydroxyhexafluoroisopropyl)benzene, 23],313 providing quanti- pound, SnCl4·5H2O, used in combination with TBAB allowed
tative carbonation of ESBO in 10 h (entry 2). for quantitative conversion of ESBO into CSBO under moder-
Rokicki et al. reported the carbonation of ESBO at lower ate CO2 pressure but at a high temperature (entry 8).316
CO2 pressure than the previous example but a higher reaction Previously discussed organocatalytic systems 10 and 14/TBAC
temperature and longer reaction time (5 d) were needed (entries 9 and 10) and coordination complex 4 combined with
employing KI/18-crown-6 as a catalyst. In this case, the CVO PPh3 (entry 11) had attractive catalytic activity for the synthesis
was obtained in high yield in the form of cis- and trans of CSBO under milder temperatures and/or CO2 pressures with
mixture (entry 3).314 performances comparable to those observed for fatty acids (see
Previously discussed coordination compounds (see also Tables 6 and 8). Thus, it appears that the type of ester and the
Table 6) displayed good performance in the carbonation of presence of saturated fatty acid chains in the starting material
EVOs under relatively high pressure (entries 4–6, Table 10). A has a negligible impact on the reactivity of the epoxide moi-
simple alkali salt (CaCl2) displayed a catalytic activity compar- eties. As a testament for this hypothesis, 14/TBAC proved to be

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Table 10 Comparison of the cycloaddition of CO2 to EVOs catalyzed by various binary catalysts

Entry EVO Cat/additive (mol%) T, p, t (°C, bar, h) Yield (%) Sel.a for CVO Ref.
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1 Soybean THA-Cr-Si-POM (2.0)b 100, 130, 24 41c 60 212

TBAB (2.0)
d
2 Soybean 23 (1.0) 100, 100, 10 100 312
TBAB (1.0)
3 Soybean KI (2.0) 130, 60, 120 98e d
314
[18]crown-6 (1.0)
4 Soybean 12 (2.0) 100, 50, 24 94 >99 196
FeCl3 (0.25)
5 Soybean 15-Br (2.0) 100, 50, 20 89 90 224
MoO3 (0.25)
d
6 Sunflower CaI2 (5.0) 90, 50, 120 83 282
PEG-DME-500 (5.0) f
d
7 Soybean CaCl2 (5.0) 140, 40, 40 98 315
TBAB (2.5)
8 Soybean SnCl4·5H2O (1.0) 140, 15, 30 99e b
316
TBAB (3.0)
b
9 Soybean 10 (5.0) 80, 25, 24 77 198
10 Soybean 14 (1.5) 100, 5, 48 81 89 231
TBAC (5.0)
11 Soybean 4 (5.0) 45, 5, 24 81 >99 118
PPh3 (5.0)
12 Sunflower 24a (4.0) 100, 1, 30 99g d
320
TBAB (4.0)
g d
13 Sunflower 24b (4.0) 100, 1, 30 8 320
TBAB (4.0)
a
Selectivity determined by 1H NMR. b THA: tetra-n-heptylammonium. c Conversion determined by 1H NMR. d Not reported. e Conversion deter-
mined by standard titration. f PEG DME 500: poly(ethyleneglycol) dimethyl ether with Mn ∼ 400 g mol−1. g Yield determined by 1H NMR.

an efficient catalyst for the carbonation of epoxidized products and for the sake of cost and sustainability, especially
FAME.231 in the context of large-scale application. The development and
Finally, Lewis acidic metal complexes were tested for the communication of recyclable catalysts for the carbonation of
carbonation of epoxidized sunflower oil (ESFO) under atmos- fatty acids is rare.
pheric pressure in the presence of TBAB. Metalloporphyrins In the case of TBAB as homogeneous catalyst for the carbo-
are known as efficient catalysts for the cycloaddition of CO2 to nation of ESBO, Doll and Erhan were able to recover TBAB
epoxides under ambient pressure.1,317–319 Safari et al. showed from the products mixture by liquid–liquid extraction using
that the Mn(II) metalloporphyrin complex 24a in the presence water followed by freeze-drying (96% recovery rate). However,
of TBAB permits full carbonation of ESFO under atmospheric they did not report the catalyst reuse for the same reaction.237
pressure at 100 °C in 30 h, whereas the analogous Zn(II) Similarly, D’Elia et al. attempted to recover 14/TBAC from the
complex 24b is inactive under identical conditions (entries 12 crude reaction mixture containing iCFA1 by extraction with
and 13).320 water.231 In this case, the recovered catalyst showed poor re-
usability as it converted only 38% of iEFA1 into iCFA1 without
5.9 Recyclable catalytic systems for the carbonation of EFAs altering the chemoselectivity for the carbonate product.
and EVOs Some homogeneous catalysts highlighted in the previous
Whereas most of the highlighted catalytic systems are homo- sections such as 20,299 24a,320 CaI2/PEG-DME-500,282 and KI/
geneous, the development of recoverable and recyclable hydroxyl-functionalized imidazoles,281 can be recovered after
heterogeneous catalysts is crucial for easier purification of the the synthesis of the respective CCs by methods such as

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column chromatography, product distillation and liquid–

liquid extraction, and reused for the same cycloaddition reac-
tion. However, their recyclability for the synthesis of CFAs and
CVOs has not been specifically addressed. Catalyst separation
protocols that require evaporation of large volumes of water or
distillation of high-boiling carbonates are likely not convenient
or sustainable for commercial exploitation. Along similar
lines, Werner et al. prepared some heterogeneous, reusable Scheme 30 The coupling of 2,3-epoxynonanoic methyl ester with CO2
catalysts such as 11,197 and 21,300 but their recyclability was catalyzed by a recyclable sugarcane bagasse/TBAB binary catalyst.

not demonstrated for processes that focus on carbonated

oleochemicals.
Bähr and Mülhaupt reported the application of silica-sup- Interestingly, the carbonation of the latter compound can
ported 4-pyrrolidinopyridinium iodide ( previously developed be performed by employing sugarcane bagasse as a hetero-
by Motokura)321 as a heterogeneous catalyst for the carbona- geneous HBD in combination with TBAB at 80 °C and about
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tion of ESBO and epoxidized linseed oils (ELSO) with full con- 41 bar of CO2 pressure (Scheme 30). The insolubility of sugar-
version of the respective EVO realized at high temperature and cane bagasse allows for easy separation from the crude reac-
moderate pressure (140 °C, 30 bar of CO2, 45 h).271 Whereas tion mixture by simple filtration. This catalyst component can
the catalyst could be easily recovered by simple filtration after be reused for at least six runs with only slight loss of activity.
the reaction and thus avoid product purification by liquid– However, the chemoselectivity toward carbonate for this
liquid extraction, the performance of the recycled catalyst for a system was only moderate due to secondary reactions (such as
new run of carbonation was not reported. hydrolysis) taking place involving the epoxy groups.
As a rare example of a recyclable catalyst for the coupling of Additionally, fresh TBAB, likely the most expensive catalyst
CO2 and epoxidized oleochemicals, Wang et al. reported a component, had to be added in each consecutive cycle.
ZrO2-supported heteropolyacid (H3PW12O40/ZrO2) that was suc-
cessfully applied for the carbonation of ESBO at high tempera-
ture (150 °C) and moderate CO2 pressure (10 bar) in the pres- 6. Conclusions and perspectives
ence of DMF.322 Its catalytic performance was attributed to the
synergy between the strong acidic metal centers of the hetero- This tutorial review demonstrates that the area of biobased car-
polyacid and the basic zirconia surface providing sites for CO2 bonate synthesis has tremendously advanced over the last
adsorption and activation. Nonetheless, H3PW12O40/ZrO2 decade. Key to the success has been and will continue to be
showed poor reuse features due to the strong adsorption of the development of suitable catalysts that, according to the
bulky reaction by-products at the active sites of the catalyst principles of green chemistry and commercial applications,
surface that could not be efficiently regenerated even after should preferentially be low-cost, readily available, scalable
calcination. and sustainable in terms of their components. The incorpor-
To improve the regeneration of an active catalyst, the cata- ation of carbon dioxide in biobased feedstock such as ter-
lyst was modified by doping it with platinum (5%) via a co- penes, sugar-derived architectures, glycerol and fatty acids
impregnation approach. As expected, the addition of platinum (including vegetable oils) offers a way to increase the appli-
increased the ability of the material to oxidize hydrocarbons, cation potential of low-value materials into high-value func-
and the undesired adsorbed organic molecules could be tional additives, solvents and polymer precursors for, inter
removed below 300 °C.323 At the same time, the presence of alia, NIPUs.
platinum did not affect the efficiency of the carbonation reac- There are several aspects that still deserve attention. Most
tion. The Pt-doped H3PW12O40/ZrO2 displayed significantly of the catalytic processes developed to date are operated with
better recyclability despite the gradual decrease in catalytic purified and single-component substrates, whereas larger
activity upon reuse with the ESBO conversion dropping from scale commercially available feedstock are often mixtures con-
93 to 78% after four catalytic cycles. An obvious drawback of taining impurities that may affect the stability, activity and
this catalytic system is the need for expensive noble metal reuse of the involved catalyst system. Therefore, it is important
dopant to achieve reusability. to further develop catalysts that are not only able to combine
A different way to generate internal carbonates from fatty high (chemo)selectivity and sufficient activity, but are also
acids was reported by Cádiz et al. by using heptanal, a product compatible with less defined mixtures of waste streams such
of the thermal cracking of castor oil, as a novel precursor for as the case for fatty acids that are available from the biodiesel
NIPU synthesis.324 The Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons industry. As catalyst cost is paramount for scale up, cheap(er)
reaction between heptanal and trimethyl phosphonoacetate catalyst design is a crucial aspect and particularly when bulk
yielded methyl 2-nonenoate that was further oxidized to chemical applications are foreseen for biocarbonates attained
achieve the corresponding 2,3-epoxynonanoic methyl ester by integration of CO2 into biomolecules.
(see Scheme 30) as a short-chain epoxidized fatty acid In the following sections we present a summary of key
derivative. advances and future perspectives for each class of compounds.

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6.1 Glycerol carbonate In recent years, the use of terpene oxides in the field of sus-
Glycerol carbonate is a promising outlet for the valorization of tainable polymer chemistry has also emerged.110 In particular,
waste glycerol from saponification reactions, and it is expected polycarbonates such as poly(limonene carbonate) and poly
to represent a valuable bio-refinery product.325 The ideal route (menth-2-ene carbonate) have been obtained by direct coup-
to prepare GC, i.e. the combination of two renewable sub- ling with CO2.111,330 Unfortunately, up to now these reactions
strates such as glycerol and CO2, is affected by thermodynamic can only be promoted by two types of catalytic systems.
limitations that lead to low GC yields under typically harsh Alternatively, polycarbonates can be obtained via ROP of reac-
reaction conditions. Such limitations can be partially eased by tive cyclic carbonates in the presence of simple catalytic
the use of dehydrating agents or by the presence of additional systems.331,332 We believe that further investigations should
reaction components that, however, unavoidably negatively focus on the discovery of terpene-based cyclic carbonates that
affect the overall sustainability, cost, and purification require- will serve as monomers for the production of polycarbonates
ments of the product. In this context, the atom-economic by easy-to-tune ROP protocols. This will offer an alternative
cycloaddition of CO2 to glycidol appears as a convenient strategy for the production of polymeric materials with attrac-
approach as it can be carried out under relatively mild con- tive properties.
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ditions using molecular catalysts based on readily available 6.3 Sugar-derived carbonates
organic compounds such as ascorbic acid. Moreover, recent
advances in the synthesis of GC from glycidol and CO2 via Thanks to the ubiquity of sugars in nature, this class of com-
Payne rearrangement chemistry rather than the traditional pounds has been recognized as an attractive sustainable feed-
cycloaddition mechanism,99 demonstrate that this reaction stock. However, in order to avoid competition with the food
can be carried out using single-component and halogen-free processing industry, a lot of research is still needed that
systems. Therefore, the development of bio-based homo- should focus on sugar-based biofuels, chemicals and polymers
geneous and heterogeneous catalysts exploiting such a reac- obtained from widely-available cellulose and
tion manifold for the synthesis of GC is highly promising. To lignocellulose.333–335 Sugar structures are characterized by the
note, the sustainability of the glycidol-based approach can be presence of hydroxyl groups and, consequently, their trans-
increased by the implementation of green routes to produce formation into cyclic carbonates has been mainly conducted
the latter compound; for instance using 2-chloro-1,3-propane- by well-known stoichiometric procedures in the presence of
diol, a waste product of the Epicerol process, as the sub- non-ideal reactants such as phosgene. During the last few
strate,326 or from glycerol deoxydehydration affording allyl years, alternative methodologies have been reported for the
alcohol.327 carbonation of sugars under milder conditions. In general,
these procedures are based on the reaction of low pressure
carbon dioxide (1–10 bar) with an in situ formed activated
6.2 Terpene-derived carbonates alcohol species, followed by cyclization promoted by elimin-
Terpene compounds have been used for a long time for the ation of a suitable leaving group (e.g., OTs and OMs). These
preparation of fragrances, flavors and pharmaceuticals. Some reactions do avoid the use of phosgene-related compounds,
terpenes, such as pinene, carvone, myrcene and limonene are though they still require the presence of stoichiometric
currently obtained from turpentine oil, paper pulping process amounts of base (e.g., DBU and Et3N) and halogenated reac-
and extraction from citrus fruits.328 Such terpenes are pro- tants (e.g., TsCl and CH2Br2). Future development of catalytic
duced on million tons per year, and have been also proposed methodologies are likely needed to improve the potential
for the production of biofuels.329 Interesting, terpene-based application and scale up of this synthetic process.
cyclic carbonates have been isolated from natural sources with Interestingly, the possibility to control the stereochemistry
some of them showing biological activity. In comparison with during the synthesis of sugar-based CCs has also been demon-
other biobased feedstock, terpenes present an impressive strated. This aspect is highly relevant, especially with respect
structural diversity, which offers the possibility to produce to the use of such carbonates as monomers in polycarbonate
complex cyclic carbonate structures by relatively easy trans- synthesis. Indeed, the stereochemistry of bicyclic carbonates
formations (i.e., oxidation followed by coupling with CO2). strongly influences their reactivity during the polymerization
Consequently, the synthesis of terpene-based CCs has gained process, and the possibility to compare compounds with
momentum, and future investigations could lead to the discov- different stereochemistry will offer the possibility to further
ery of compounds with promising pharmaceutical activity. investigate structure–reactivity relationships. In addition,
However, most of the current reports focus on limonene- and phosgene-free routes for sugar-based carbonates render these
pinene-derived carbonates. Thus, future investigations are molecules as an attracting platform for the synthesis of bio-
required to expand the portfolio of terpene-based carbonates. based NIPUs.
To date, different catalytic methodologies for the coupling of
CO2 with terpene oxides have been reported, with in several 6.4 Fatty acid and vegetable oil-based carbonates
cases significant byproduct formation when more complex The attractive aspects of these feedstock is that they are avail-
substrates were employed. This clearly calls for further devel- able in large volumes either as-produced or from the recovery
opment of more efficient and selective catalytic systems. of spent cooking oils. Carbonated vegetable oils are versatile

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substrates for the preparation of NIPUs via aminolysis reac- preferred to create critical amounts of the biocarbonate for
tions (i.e., amine-promoted ring-opening of the cyclic carbon- eventual (commercial) use.
ate). With NIPUs being regarded as ideal green polymers for From the diversity and functionality of biobased structures
the replacement of phosgene-based PUs, it is expected that the that can be accessed via catalytic process, and the prospect of
demand for these types of biocarbonates will considerably biocarbonates in various academic and commercial applications,
increase in the near future when current process issues such a bright future is ahead of these CO2 based cyclic carbonates.
as low molecular weights, low aminolysis rates and side reac-
tions can be adequately solved.336 Additionally we foresee that
carbonated fatty acids could be suitable substrates for the Conflicts of interest
preparation of additives to improve the anti-wear properties of
group II base oils.337 There are no conflicts to declare by the authors.
In the last decade, the synthesis of fatty acid/vegetable oil
based CCs has been characterized by a remarkable development
of several binary homogeneous systems able to catalyze the car- Acknowledgements
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bonation reactions of oils under practical reaction conditions AWK thanks the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya, ICREA,
(45–100 °C, 5–10 bar). This is especially relevant when compar- the Spanish MINECO (CTQ2017-88920-P) and AGAUR
ing to the exclusive use of quaternary ammonium or phos- (2017-SGR-232) for financial support. We also thank the Ministerio
phonium salts and, often, binary systems provide better/ de Ciencia e Innovación for support through Severo Ochoa
improved control of the stereochemistry of the final products. Excellence Accreditation 2020–2023 (CEX2019-000925-S, MIC/AEI).
As a drawback, and due to the low reactivity of the substrates, BL and FDM thank the European Community for Marie Curie
long reaction times (24–48 h) are generally required to reach individual fellowships (PHOTOCARBOX grant agreement 889754,
high degrees of conversion (>80%). Therefore, substantial and SUPREME grant agreement 840557). V. D. E. thanks the
improvement of the performance of homogeneous (binary) cata- Thailand Research Fund (Grant No. RSA6080059) for funding.
lysts for the carbonation of vegetable oil-derived epoxides is a
future requisite. It can be anticipated that a substantial increase
in the demand for carbonated vegetable oils should be met by Notes and references
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