Fast cyclotrimerization of a wide range of isocyanates to isocyanurates over acid/base conjugates under bulk conditions

An array of organic bases DMAP (4-dimethylaminopyridine), DBU (1, 8-diazabicyclo [5.4.0] undec-7-ene), TBD (1, 5, 7-triazabicyclo [4.4.0] dec-5-ene), and their base/acid conjugate organocatalyst systems were evaluated in the trimerization of various isocyanates. The performance depended greatly on the combination of the catalyst systems, and the [HTBD][OAc] (acetic acid) catalyst systems were considerably the most active in contrast to the corresponding DMAP and DBU counterparts. The [HTBD][OAc] catalyst system was capable of providing isocyanurates from the cyclotrimerization of various isocyanate substrates in excellent yields in seconds even under bulk conditions. A bifunctional catalytic mechanism over [HTBD][OAc] was proposed.