The production of cyclic carbonates and (or) polycarbonates from the coupling of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) with epoxides is a practical strategy for CO2 fixation. Chemically recycling of the polycarbonates is also urgently needed for sustainable development of plastics. Here a dinuclear β-diketiminato (BDI) methyl zinc complex((BDI-ZnMe)2 , 1) is reported to achieve not only selective cyclic carbonates from cycloaddition of CO2 to meso-CHO in the presence of cocatalyst, but also effective depolymerization of PCHC into trans-CHC. The trans-CHC can be further transformed into cis-CHC, thus demonstrating great application potentials of this strategy in CO2 fixation and chemical recycling of plastics.
Keywords: CO2 fixation; configurational inversion; cycloaddtion; depolymerization; sustainable chemistry.
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