Development of Silica‐Immobilized Material as Heterogeneous Hydrogen Bond Donor (HBD) Catalyst: Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonates from CO₂ and Epoxides

Abstract

Composite silica materials have been developed by hydrothermal method and utilized as heterogeneous Hydrogen Bond Donor (HBD) catalysts, where the functionalized ketimine derivatives have been immobilized on the solid support. Such functional materials have been found to be efficient catalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates through the installation of CO2 with epoxides. Characterization of these materials was systematically done using various spectroscopic and imaging techniques to confirm the presence of organic compounds on the silica surface. These composite materials exhibited significantly higher catalytic activity as compared to the other homogeneous methods. Additionally, this synthetic process was extremely convenient in terms of all the external parameters such as, solvent free condition at ambient reaction temperature with normal pressure of CO2, very low catalyst loading with proper regeneration and reusability of the catalyst. These facets have definitely made this technique greener and more sustainable.