Conversion of Terpenes to Chemicals and Related Products

Recent progress in the catalytic transformation of carbon dioxide into biosourced organic carbonates

“…Some terpenes, such as pinene, carvone, myrcene and limonene are currently obtained from turpentine oil, paper pulping process and extraction from citrus fruits. 328 Such terpenes are produced on million tons per year, and have been also proposed for the production of biofuels. 329 Interesting, terpene-based cyclic carbonates have been isolated from natural sources with some of them showing biological activity.…”

Epoxidation of Terpenes

“…Monoterpenes are naturally occurring olefinic hydrocarbons comprising ten carbon atoms. Their chemical properties are therefore similar to those of significant petroleum derived monomers systematically used today in the production of high tonnage polymers [4].…”

“…Steiner et al developed an efficient separation process for a 1:1 mixture of cis and trans 1,2-limonene oxide using nucleophilic amines. [4] To isolate cis 1,2-limonene oxide, pyrrolidine and piperidine were used and reacted with only trans 1,2-limonene oxide by ring opening reaction. The unchanged cis 1,2-limonene oxide was isolated by liquid-liquid extraction and distillation.…”

“…Other similar studies demonstrated that in situ generated dioxiranes from chiral ketones are highly stereoselective for the asymmetric epoxidation of trans-olefins and trisubstituted olefins (See Refs. [4][5][6] in [41]). Indeed, the above cited technologies for alkene stereoselective epoxidation need to be tested for setereoselective epoxidation of terpenes and, in particular, for the especially crucial formation of trans-limonene diepoxides.…”

Biocarbonates Derived from CO2 and Terpenes: Molecular Design for Aqueous Mixture Treatment Driven by COSMO-RS

“…17 This epoxide is capable, in the presence of a suitable catalyst, to react with CO 2 in a cycloaddition reaction to produce biocarbonates in a similar way to other petroleumderived epoxides. 18 Biosolvents are emerging compounds of different nature that aim at addressing green and sustainable principles in the solvent formulation. There are different options in the literature such as biomass-derived compounds (i.e., furfural, lactic acid, and their derivatives, glycerol, and its derivatives), 19 carbohydrates, 20 terpenes, 21 ionic liquids, 22 and natural eutectic solvents, 23 among others.…”