Transformation of Carbon Dioxide into Oxazolidinones and Cyclic Carbonates Catalyzed by Rare-Earth-Metal Phenolates

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/cctc.201600534

Rare-earth-metal complexes stabilized by amine-bridged tri(phenolato) ligands were developed, and their activities in catalyzing transformations of CO₂ were studied. A series of terminal epoxides and challenging disubstituted epoxides were converted into the respective cyclic carbonates in the presence of CO₂ in yields of 58 to 96 %. In addition, these rare-earth-metal complexes also showed good activities in catalyzing three-component reactions of anilines, epoxides, and CO₂, which generated 5-substituted-3-aryl-2-oxazolidines in yields of 48 to 96 %, as a useful strategy to construct oxazolidinones.