Synthesis of Bio-Derived Cyclic Carbonates from Renewable Resources

The coupling reaction of carbon dioxide and terminal, internal, and highly substituted epoxides derived from renewable resources such as furfural, limonene, carvone, carvyl acetate, terpinen-4-ol, or ionone leads to the synthesis of new bioderived cyclic carbonates using an efficient aluminum catalyst under mild and solvent-free reaction conditions. Interestingly, the synthesis of highly substituted bioderived cyclic carbonates can occur with excellent diastereoselectivity, obtaining in some cases one diastereoisomer as the major product. The X-ray crystal structures of two enantiomerically pure carvone-based cyclic carbonates are reported.