Tokyo University develops new catalyst to eliminate CO2 green copolymer

The technology of copolymerizing CO2 with propylene oxide (PO) has not been commercialized due to its side reaction to produce cyclic propylene carbonate (CPC). This side reaction results in the formation of unstable low molecular weight copolymers. Recently, a new catalyst developed by Prof. Kyoko Nozaki of the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in Japan has basically solved this problem. The novel catalyst is a bis-(piperidinylmethyl)-hydroxyiodocobalt(III) complex containing two acetate ligands, which is synthesized from the reaction of cobalt acetate and the corresponding bissalicylidediamine, followed by an excess Oxidized in the presence of acetic acid and air. The catalyst allows selective formation of copolymers by reacting CO2 with epoxides such as PO, 1-butane oxide, and 1-hexene oxide.