Review on the recent advances in catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide for synthesis of cyclic propylene carbonate

Generation of carbondioxide in the atmosphere has increased considerably over the past decades due to the increase of industrialization. This led to the increase in the global temperature which affects the eco-system. It is essential to reduce the emission of carbondioxide in the atmosphere for which different researchers are working on re-utilization of the generated carbondioxide either by converting to different products or by trapping them as carbonates. Propylene carbonate is one of the chemicals that are synthesized by using CO2 as a reactant. Propylene carbonate has many applications as an end product and acts as intermediate for synthesis of other useful chemicals. Fixation of CO2 into propylene oxide for the synthesis of propylene carbonate is still a challenging task due to the high thermodynamic stability of CO2. Propylene carbonate can be synthesized by reacting CO2 with different high energy materials using different catalyst. This review is focused on providing an idea about different types of catalyst reported for synthesis of cyclic propylene carbonate using propylene oxide and propylene glycol as the starting materials. This review also provides the mechanism for conversion of CO2 to propylene carbonate by different catalyst and at various working conditions.