Bifunctional organocatalyst for activation of carbon dioxide and epoxide to produce cyclic carbonate: betaine as a new catalytic motif.

Bifunctional organocatalysts bearing an ammonium betaine framework have been developed as a new catalytic motif for the activation of carbon dioxide and epoxides to produce cyclic carbonates.

Quasi-octahedral complexes of pentamethylcyclopentadienyliridium(III) bearing bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl)phenylphosphine (dpmp).

Reaction of [Cp*IrCl2]2 (1) with dpmp in the presence of KPF6 afforded a binuclear complex [Cp*IrCl(dpmp-P1,P2;P3)IrCl2Cp*](PF6) (2) (dpmp =(Ph2PCH2)2PPh). The mononuclear complex [Cp*IrCl(dpmp-P1,P2)](PF6) (4) was generated by the reaction of [Cp*IrCl2(BDMPP)](BDMPP =PPh[2,6-(MeO)2C6H3]2) with dpmp in the presence of KPF6. These mono- and binuclear complexes have four-membered ring structures with a terminal and a central P atom of the dpmp ligand coordinated to an iridium atom as a bidentate ligand.