Pinene-Based Oxidative Synthetic Toolbox for Scalable Polyester Synthesis.

Generation of renewable polymers is a long-standing goal toward reaching a more sustainable society, but building blocks in biomass can be incompatible with desired polymerization type, hampering the full implementation potential of biomaterials. Herein, we show how conceptually simple oxidative transformations can be used to unlock the inherent reactivity of terpene synthons in generating polyesters by two different mechanisms starting from the same α-pinene substrate. In the first pathway, α-pinene was oxidized into the bicyclic verbanone-based lactone and subsequently polymerized into star-shaped polymers via ring-opening polymerization, resulting in a biobased semicrystalline polyester with tunable glass transition and melting temperatures. In a second pathway, polyesters were synthesized via polycondensation, utilizing the diol 1-(1'-hydroxyethyl)-3-(2'-hydroxy-ethyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclobutane (HHDC) synthesized by oxidative cleavage of the double bond of α-pinene, together with unsaturated biobased diesters such as dimethyl maleate (DMM) and dimethyl itaconate (DMI). The resulting families of terpene-based polyesters were thereafter successfully cross-linked by either transetherification, utilizing the terminal hydroxyl groups of the synthesized verbanone-based materials, or by UV irradiation, utilizing the unsaturation provided by the DMM or DMI moieties within the HHDC-based copolymers. This work highlights the potential to apply an oxidative toolbox to valorize inert terpene metabolites enabling generation of biosourced polyesters and coatings thereof by complementary mechanisms.

Fischer Carbene Pentannulation with Alkynes Having Adjacent Carbonate or Acyloxy Groups: Synthesis of 3-Substituted 1-Indanones.

Various aryl Fischer carbenes reacted with alkynes having adjacent acyloxy or carbonate groups to regioselectively deliver 3-substituted 1-indanones. The acyloxy or carbonate group probably coordinates with the Cr metal to give a tetra-coordinated chromium complex forming a six-membered ring that retards CO insertion for ketene formation, which is required for benzannulation. Alternatively, the ortho position aryl ring attack results in pentannulation, providing regioselectively 3-substituted 1-indanones. The method is extended to the synthesis of the core structure of 3-epi-mutisianthol.

Dynamic properties of imidazolium orthoborate ionic liquids mixed with polyethylene glycol studied by NMR diffusometry and impedance spectroscopy.

We used 1 H pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance to study the self-diffusion of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with average molecular mass of 200 and ions in mixtures of PEG with imidazolium bis(mandelato)borate (BMB) and imidazolium bis(oxalato)borate ionic liquids (ILs). The IL was mixed with PEG in the concentration range of 0-100 wt%. Within the temperature range of 295 to 353 K, the diffusion coefficient of BMB is slower than that of the imidazolium cation. The diffusion coefficients of PEG, as well as the imidazolium cation and BMB anions, differ under all experimental conditions tested. This demonstrates that the IL in the mixture is present in at least a partially dissociated state. Generally, increasing the concentration of PEG leads to an increase in the diffusion coefficients of PEG and both the ions and decreases their activation energy for diffusion. Nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift alteration analysis showed that the presence of PEG changes the chemical shifts of both ions but in different directions. Impedance spectroscopy was used to measure the ionic conductivity of the ILs mixed with PEG. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High CO2 absorption capacity by chemisorption at cations and anions in choline-based ionic liquids.

The effect of CO2 absorption on the aromaticity and hydrogen bonding in ionic liquids is investigated. Five different ionic liquids with choline based cations and aprotic N-heterocyclic anions were synthesized. Purity and structures of the synthesized ionic liquids were characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. CO2 capture performance was studied at 20 °C and 40 °C under three different pressures (1, 3, 6 bar). The IL [N1,1,6,2OH][4-Triz] showed the highest CO2 capture capacity (28.6 wt%, 1.57 mol of CO2 per mol of the IL, 6.48 mol of CO2 per kg of the ionic liquid) at 20 °C and 1 bar. The high CO2 capture capacity of the [N1,1,6,2OH][4-Triz] IL is due to the formation of carbonic acid (-OCO2H) together with carbamate by participation of the -OH group of the [N1,1,6,2OH]+ cation in the CO2 capture process. The structure of the adduct formed by CO2 reaction with the IL [N1,1,6,2OH][4-Triz] was probed by using IR, 13C NMR and 1H-13C HMBC NMR experiments utilizing 13C labeled CO2 gas. 1H and 13C PFG NMR studies were performed before and after CO2 absorption to explore the effect of cation-anion structures on the microscopic ion dynamics in ILs. The ionic mobility was significantly increased after CO2 reaction due to lowering of aromaticity in the case of ILs with aromatic N-heterocyclic anions.

Insights into the effect of CO2 absorption on the ionic mobility of ionic liquids.

We investigate a comparative effect of CO2 absorption on the ionic mobility of two choline based ionic liquids comprising two different anions such as threonine and imidazole. The synthesized ionic liquids were characterized using 1H and 13C NMR and other spectroscopic techniques. By keeping a common cation and changing the anion from threonine to imidazole both the viscosity and density reduced drastically. We found that [N1,1,6,2OH][Imi] exhibits the highest CO2 capture capacity at 20 °C of 5.27 mol of CO2 per kg of ionic liquid (1.27 mol of CO2 per mol of ionic liquid, 23.26 wt% of CO2) whereas [N1,1,6,2OH][Threo] exhibits 3.6 mol of CO2 per kg of ionic liquid (1.05 mol of CO2 per mol of ionic liquid, 15.87 wt% of CO2). The activation energy for diffusion is calculated using the Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman (VFT) equation in the form of diffusivity. It was found that the activation energy for the diffusion of [N1,1,6,2OH][Threo] is ∼10 times higher than that of [N1,1,6,2OH][Imi]. 1H diffusion NMR data revealed that the diffusivity of [N1,1,6,2OH][Imi] is increased after CO2 absorption whereas a decrease in diffusivity was observed in the case of [N1,1,6,2OH][Threo]. This anomalous behavior of [N1,1,6,2OH][Imi] was further explained by using DFT calculations.