Biodegradable Copolymers Produced from Carbon Dioxide and Epoxides by Well-defined Metal Catalysts:Mechanistic and Technology Enabling Studies

德克萨斯农工大学的Donald J.Darensburg教授在无机、生物无机和金属有机化学项目的支持下，探索利用二氧化碳作为试剂，与环氧化物偶合形成可生物降解的共聚物。Robust(Salen)MX络合物与一系列助催化剂将用于探索聚合物动力学的机械细节，包括引发、传播和终止。目前商用聚碳酸酯材料的路线使用光气，这是一种危险的一氧化碳来源，因此更环保、更无害的合成这些聚合物的技术将具有重要的工业意义。该研究项目致力于将二氧化碳这一温室气体转化为有用的共聚产品。在这个跨学科的研究项目中，研究生将接触到催化剂设计、聚合物化学和有机金属合成。外展计划包括本科生和高中生从事与环境问题相关的尖端有机金属化学研究。

Professor Donald J. Darensbourg of Texas A & M University is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program to explore the utilization of carbon dioxide as a reagent that can couple with epoxides to form biodegradable copolymers. Robust (salen)MX complexes with an array of cocatalysts will be used to probe mechanistic details of polymer kinetics including initiation, propagation and termination. Current routes to commercial polycarbonate materials employ phosgene, a hazardous CO source, so a greener and more benign technology for synthesizing these polymers would have important industrial implications. This research project addresses conversion of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to useful copolymer products. Graduate students will be exposed to catalyst design, polymer chemistry and organometallic syntheses in this interdisciplinary research project. Outreach plans involve undergraduate and high school students in cutting edge organometallic chemical research relevant to environmental issues.