Organocatalyzed synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxidized vegetable oils and carbon dioxide

The present project relies on the chemical fixation of CO2 and the utilization of vegetable oils as a substitute for basic petroleum derivatives for the production of new monomers and new bio-based organic polymers. In this context, a “greener” approach has been developed to produce bio-sourced polyurethanes by reaction of bio-based cyclic carbonates and amines. Bio-based cyclic carbonates can be synthesised with a total atom economy by chemical fixation of carbon dioxide onto an epoxidized vegetable oil using an appropriate catalyst. However, the conventional catalysts exhibit high catalytic activity only at high temperature and/or pressure or are sensitive to moistures water and/or oxygen. The aim of the present study is to investigate new organocatalytic platforms enabling the cycloaddition of CO2 onto epoxidized oils in the most efficient way under mild conditions. For such task, in situ kinetic follow-up of the cycloaddition of model epoxides and epoxidized oils onto CO2 has been performed by FT-IR spectroscopy in order to to determine the catalytic activity of new binary organocatalytic systems and to evaluate the influence of various parameters (pressure, temperature, catalyst concentration, nature of the epoxide) on the yields and the reaction kinetics. Then, few catalytic systems have been investigated by molecular modeling in order to understand the reaction mechanism