Using CO2 as a sustainable feedstock for industry is attracting increased attention. However, the low reactivity of carbon dioxide means its use can be quite limited, requiring extreme conditions for reactions to occur. Kazushi Mashima and colleagues from Japan and Germany have developed a new tetranuclear zinc cluster system which catalyses the insertion of CO2 into epoxide rings to produce cyclic carbonates. Their system shows good activity at room temperature, ambient pressure, is tolerant to a wide range of CO2 impurities and water………… making this a very versatile catalyst!
For more details into their investigation read this advance article which is free to access in Catalysis Science & Technology until 2012
Efficient cyclic carbonate synthesis catalyzed by zinc cluster systems under mild conditions
Yi Yang, Yukiko Hayashi, Yuka Fujii, Takuto Nagano, Yusuke Kita, Takashi Ohshima, Jun Okudac and Kazushi Mashima
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00404B, Paper
