New efficient bicomponent organocatalysts for the chemical fixation of CO2 onto epoxides: a theoretical study

Regarding the economic and environmental issues, valorising CO2 as a C1 feedstock for producing useful building blocks is seducing as it is a free and abundant waste resulting from the human activity. Cyclic carbonates are useful compounds that found application as green solvents, electrolytes for lithium battery or monomers for polycarbonates or polyurethanes synthesis. These cyclocarbonates can be synthesized with a total atom economy by chemical fixation of CO2 onto epoxides using organometallic complexes or organocatalysts. To date, although this area of research has been the subject of many studies, the identification and development of (organo)catalysts highly efficient under mild experimental conditions still remains challenging. In this context, we developed a new organocatalytic platform based on the use of ammonium salts in combination with single or double hydrogen bond donor activators derived from fluorinated alcohols that showed unexpected booster effect. In this contribution, the ammonium/fluoroalcohol promoted CO2/propylene oxide coupling was investigated through detailed kinetic studies by IR spectroscopy under pressure and results were compared to the most efficient organocatalysts based on ammonium salts and (multi)phenolic derivatives that were reported in the literature. In order to finely understand the reaction mechanism, this study was completed by molecular modeling. DFT calculations showed that the addition of H-bond donors (HBD) with hexafluoroisopropanol functionalities modified the mechanism of the ammonium promoted coupling of CO2 with epoxides. HBDs dramatically decreased the epoxide ring-opening step barrier which highlights the key role of the fluorinated activators in stabilizing the intermediates and transitions states by inter- and intra-molecular hydrogen bonds.