Direct CO2 Transformation to Aliphatic Polycarbonates

Abstract Reduction of CO 2 emission is an important issue all over the world, and the development of effective transformation methods of CO 2 into valuable chemicals is highly desirable. Among various potential products derived from CO 2 , polymers are one of the promising target chemicals in terms of the production amount and CO 2 fixation to solid materials. Therefore, the direct synthesis of polycarbonates from CO 2 has recently attracted much attention because polycarbonates including polycarbonate diols are useful engineering plastics and intermediates for polyurethanes. There are many reports on the synthesis of polycarbonates from CO 2 and cyclic ethers such as epoxides and oxetanes, however, the reports on the synthesis from CO 2 and diols are limited. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of direct polycarbonate synthesis from CO 2 and diols and explain the potential and issues for industrialization based on the characteristics of the reaction systems.