A bimetallic iron(III) catalyst can couple together an epoxide (cyclohexene oxide) and carbon dioxide (CO2) to yield poly-(cyclohexene carbonate), under mild conditions.
Charlotte K. Williams and co-workers at the Imperial College London, in the UK, believe that this method provides a sustainable alternative for the synthesis of carbonates, as metal catalysed coupling of CO2 and epoxides is one of the few processes that actually consumes (rather than releases!) this harmful greenhouse gas.
Fancy reading more? Why not download the article today and blog some comments below? Published in ChemComm, this article is free to access until the 12th November.
This article is also part of the ‘Emerging Investigators’ issue, due to be published later on this year. This issue will highlight the very best work from scientists in the early stages of their independent career from across the chemical sciences.
