Catalytic Coupling of Carbon Dioxide with Terpene Scaffolds: Access to Challenging Bio-Based Organic Carbonates.

The challenging coupling of highly substituted terpene oxides and carbon dioxide into bio-based cyclic organic carbonates catalyzed by Al(aminotriphenolate) complexes is reported. Both acyclic as well as cyclic terpene oxides were used as coupling partners, showing distinct reactivity/selectivity behavior. Whereas cyclic terpene oxides showed excellent chemoselectivity towards the organic carbonate product, acyclic substrates exhibited poorer selectivities owing to concomitant epoxide rearrangement reactions and the formation of undesired oligo/polyether side products.