Synthesis of Bifunctional Catalysts for the Cycloaddition of CO2 to Epoxides through an Epoxide-Driven Strategy

The design of molecular scaffolds bearing multiple functional groups for the activation and ring-opening of epoxides is a crucial challenge for the synthesis of efficient homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts that are used for the cycloaddition reaction of CO2 to epoxides. Traditional approaches to prepare such multifunctional catalysts often imply multistep synthetic procedures and expensive building blocks. In this work we show that bifunctional catalysts for the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides bearing a Lewis acid metal and a quaternary ammonium halide group can be prepared in just two steps starting from an opportunely designed epoxide precursor by using inexpensive substrates. Such a readily accessible catalyst was applied for the cycloaddition of CO2 to a series of epoxides under atmospheric conditions generally leading to quantitative substrate conversion and high carbonate selectivities. Importantly, we also show that the epoxide-driven concept developed for the preparation of the molecular catalyst, could be applied to prepare recyclable heterogeneous systems for the target cycloaddition reaction.