Overcoming Barriers in Polycarbonate Synthesis: A Streamlined Approach for the Synthesis of Cyclic Carbonate Monomers
Eddy Tan, James L. Hedrick, Pedro L. Arrechea, Tim Erdmann, Vivien Kiyek, Simon Lottier, Yi Yan Yang, Nathaniel H. Park
Abstract
Accessing cyclic carbonate monomers on a large scale is critical for the development of any new carbonate-based materials platform. The synthesis of carbonate monomers can be a challenging and tedious endeavor requiring multiple synthetic steps and purifications. To address this, we report a drastically improved process for the synthesis of carbonate monomers via a two-step route that avoids the use of hazardous triphosgene or chloroformate reagents. This process enables rapid access to a broad array of functional groups on the carbonate monomer and the monomers generated from the procedure can readily be polymerized via ring-opening polymerization.