Solvent-free Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates from CO2 and Epoxides Catalyzed by Reusable Alumina-supported Zinc Dichloride

Abstract There is an ongoing interest to advance in the production of cyclic carbonates from carbon dioxide and epoxides under sustainable conditions. The ZnCl 2 /Al 2 O 3 -TBAI system has evinced to be a cheap, simple, readily accessible and reusable catalyst for the reaction of carbon dioxide with aromatic, aliphatic, cyclic and fluorinated epoxides with a low metal loading under solvent-free and mild conditions. This system has been also shown to be adequate for the reaction of epoxides with carbon disulfide to form the sulfur-containing cyclic carbonate analogs.