Glycerol‐derived solvents containing two or three distinct functional groups enabled by trifluoroethyl glycidyl ether

Conversion of epichlorohydrin to glycidyl ethers creates versatile precursors that can be transformed into a variety of molecular species with glycerol skeletons, enabling the design of molecules with highly tailored functionalities. The synthesis of 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl glycidyl ether (TFGE, IUPAC name: 2-[(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)methyl]oxirane, CAS# 1535-91-7) was optimized to provide high yield/selectivity and good “green metrics.” TFGE was then used as a platform molecule in the synthesis of asymmetric glycerol 1,3-diether-2-alcohol derivatives, which were subsequently transformed to 1,2,3-triethers or 1,3-diether-2-ketones. The density, viscosity, and CO2 solubility of each molecule were measured and compared with those of other glycerol-derived compounds as well as compounds with similar functional groups. Furthermore, quantum chemical calculations were performed to understand the structure–property–performance relationships of these molecules for CO2 absorption. Based on the results in this work, we foresee that TFGE (and similar glycidyl ethers) would offer great flexibility in molecular design of green solvents and precursors to more complex compounds.