Titanium Alkoxide Complexes as Catalysts for the Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates from Carbon Dioxide and Epoxides

Titanium alkoxides can catalyze efficient and selective synthesis of cyclic carbonates through CO2 insertion into epoxides when tetrabutylammonium bromide or iodide is used as a cocatalyst. Of the series of synthesized titanium alkoxides, the most active catalyst was one bearing an aliphatic bidentate alkoxide ligand, and it produced propylene carbonate under benign conditions (100 °C, 15 bar CO2, 3 h) with turnover frequencies of up to 116 h–1. The effect of reaction parameters such as pressure, temperature, and catalyst/cocatalyst molar ratio were also studied in order to optimize the catalytic system.