Insertion of CO to 2-methyl furoate promoted by a cobalt hypercrosslinked polymer catalyst to obtain a monomer of CO-based biopolyesters

• Published in: RSC sustainability 2024-10, Vol.2 (1), p.2896-292
• Main Authors: Rangel-Rangel, Elizabeth, Fuerte-Díez, Beatriz, Iglesias, Marta, Maya, Eva M
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2753-8125
• DOI: 10.1039/d4su00426d

2,5-Furan Dicarboxylic methyl Ester (FDME), a highly valued monomer for the synthesis of biobased polyesters, has been prepared through a new synthetic strategy that consists of the direct carboxylation of methyl furoate in two steps: the first one involves a solvent-free reaction using a moderate CO 2 pressure (10 bar), a base (Cs 2 CO 3 ) and a cobalt-based heterogeneous catalyst (HCP-Salphen-Co) for 6 h, which was prepared using mechanochemical polymerization. The second step consists of an acid esterification using standard conditions. The CO 2 -based FDME synthesized with this strategy was successfully reacted with a diol derived from vanillin, thus obtaining a CO 2 and a completely bio-based polyester which exhibited high thermal stability with a starting degradation temperature of 250 °C and a glass transition temperature of 104 °C. 2,5-Furan Dicarboxylic Methyl Ester (FDME) was obtained from CO 2 and methyl furoate using a cobalt-based heterogeneous catalyst prepared by mechanochemical polymerization. FDME was validated in the synthesis of a biopolyester.