Solvent free utilization and selective coupling of epichlorohydrin with carbon dioxide over zirconium metal-organic frameworks

UiO type zirconium metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been successfully applied to the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides without using any solvent. All prepared MOFs are good catalysts for the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxide of epichlorohyrine in the presence of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine as a co-catalyst. The catalyst system is heterogeneous, easy to separate after completion of reaction and reusable for many runs. After determining the best active catalyst, the effect of the amount of catalysts and variety of base (as co-catalyst) were studied, indicating that the catalytic activity depends strongly on the ratio of catalyst/base/epoxide.