New catalysts for carboxylation of propylene glycol to propylene carbonate via high-throughput screeningElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: 1H NMR spectrum of a typical PG to PC product mixture; list of all HT screened catalyst formulations. See DOI: 10.1039/c5fd00061k

High throughput methodologies screened 81 different metal salts and metal salt combinations as catalysts for the carboxylation of propylene glycol to propylene carbonate, as compared to a 5 mol% Zn(OAc) 2 / p -chlorobenzene sulfonic acid benchmark catalyst. The reactions were run with added acetonit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Castro-Osma, José A, Comerford, James W, Heyn, Richard H, North, Michael, Tangstad, Elisabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:High throughput methodologies screened 81 different metal salts and metal salt combinations as catalysts for the carboxylation of propylene glycol to propylene carbonate, as compared to a 5 mol% Zn(OAc) 2 / p -chlorobenzene sulfonic acid benchmark catalyst. The reactions were run with added acetonitrile (MeCN) as a chemical water trap. Two new catalysts were thereby discovered, zinc trifluoromethanesulfonate (Zn(OTf) 2 ) and zinc p -toluenesulfonate. The optimal reaction parameters for the former catalyst were screened. Zn(OTf) 2 gave an overall propylene carbonate yield of greater than 50% in 24 h, twice as large as the previous best literature yield with MeCN as a water trap, with 69% selectivity and 75% conversion of propylene glycol at 145 °C and 50 bar CO 2 pressure.
ISSN:1359-6640
1364-5498
DOI:10.1039/c5fd00061k