A paper by Arjan W. Kleij, Carles Bo et al., published in Chemistry A European Journal, has been highlighted in Organic Process Research & Development.

The use of CO2 as a renewable carbon feedstock is of significant interest, though its relatively high kinetic and thermodynamic stability make the development of suitable processes a major challenge. This paper deals with the reaction of CO2 with epoxides to generate cyclic carbonates under Al-based catalysis with the thought that catalysis overcomes the kinetic stability issue, whereas the use of higher-energy substrates such as strained epoxides can surmount the thermodynamic hurdle.

Organic Process Research & Development aims to cover R&D in the fine organic chemicals and speciality chemicals industries. The highlight on this article appears in the ‘Some Items of Interest to Process R&D Chemist and Engineers’. Org. Process Res. Dev., 2014, 18, 562-572

Highly Active Aluminium Catalysts for the Formation of Organic Carbonates from CO2 and Oxiranes