Affiliations 

  • 1 Fundamental and Applied Sciences Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar 32610, Malaysia
  • 2 Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Polymers (Basel), 2021 Nov 11;13(22).
PMID: 34833202 DOI: 10.3390/polym13223905

Abstract

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is growing rapidly due to fossil fuel combustion processes, heavy oil, coal, oil shelter, and exhausts from automobiles for energy generation, which lead to depletion of the ozone layer and consequently result in global warming. The realization of a carbon-neutral environment is the main focus of science and academic researchers of today. Several processes were employed to minimize carbon dioxide in the air, some of which include the utilization of non-fossil sources of energy like solar, nuclear, and biomass-based fuels. Consequently, these sources were reported to have a relatively high cost of production and maintenance. The applications of both homogeneous and heterogeneous processes in carbon capture and storage were investigated in recent years and the focus now is on the conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals and compounds. It was established that CO2 can undergo cycloaddition reaction with epoxides under the influence of special catalysts to give cyclic carbonates, which can be used as value-added chemicals at a different level of pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Among the various catalysts studied for this reaction, metal-organic frameworks are now on the frontline as a potential catalyst due to their special features and easy synthesis. Several metal-organic framework (MOF)-based catalysts were studied for their application in transforming CO2 to organic carbonates using epoxides. Here, we report some recent studies of porous MOF materials and an in-depth discussion of two repeatedly used metal-organic frameworks as a catalyst in the conversion of CO2 to organic carbonates.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.