Rapid synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides under microwave irradiation with controlled temperature and pressure

The solvent-free synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides were carried out under microwave irradiation with controlled temperature and pressure. In comparison with classical heating of oil bath, microwave was demonstrated to be a more effective energy source, which could offer the highest TOF numbers reported up to now for CO2 coupling reaction with epoxides in the presence of a novel catalyst consisted of zinc phenosulfonate octahydrate and Bu4NBr. Pseudo-first order kinetic treatment revealed that the observed reaction acceleration under microwave irradiation mainly derived from the non-thermal effects of microwave that lead to an obvious decrease in activation energy.

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