Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a readily available, extremely inexpensive reagent for organic synthesis primarily because it is a waste material. CO2 produced as a byproduct from power plants is available on a far larger scale than traditional forms of biomass feedstocks (starch, sucrose, cellulose, oils). The very low price, very high availability, and low toxicity of CO2 are strong motivating factors for pursuing new uses of CO2. It is the long-term goal of my research to develop many applications of waste CO2. When used as a reagent, CO2 typically replaces phosgene or carbon monoxide, both of which are more expensive and very toxic. The conversion of CO2 to value-added products is currently practiced for only a few products (methanol, polycarbonates, propylene carbonate, urea, and salicylic acid). Syntheses of some other products from CO2 have been demonstrated but not yet industrialized, and many others are no doubt possible. I propose to investigate several new syntheses using CO2 and to focus on specific problems that are preventing further adoption of CO2 fixation. Compounds that will be synthetic targets include fine chemicals such as ureas, acylureas, ß-hydroxycarboxylic acids, aminoacids, alkoxyacids, chiral amines, and several other products. These chemicals are useful in pharmaceuticals, pesticides, inks, and other products of chemical manufacturing. The students involved in the research will gain experience in fine chemical synthesis and in designing chemical processes so that they have minimum impact on the environment. This work is part of a larger effort to increase the ""green-ness"" of chemical manufacturing. The recycling of waste products such as CO2 is far better for the environment (and for the health of workers) than the use of toxic reagents such as carbon monoxide and phosgene.