An electrostatically enhanced phenol as a simple and competent bifunctional organocatalyst for the atom‐economical conversion of epoxides to cyclic carbonates under environmentally benign conditions is described. Incorporating a positively charged center into phenols through a modular one‐step synthesis results in a bifunctional system with enhanced acidity and reactivity, capable of epoxide activation, a halide nucleophilic ring‐opening process, and CO₂ incorporation in a synergistic fashion. A rational survey of the efficiency of different positively charged phenols and the influence of different parameters, such as temperature, catalyst loading, and the nature of the nucleophile, on catalytic activity was conducted. In addition, the time‐dependent conversion of epoxide into the corresponding cyclic carbonate was further explored by FTIR‐ATR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. This bifunctional catalytic platform is among one of the mildest and most efficient metal‐free systems that is capable of converting a variety of epoxides into cyclic carbonates under virtually ambient conditions. The ¹H NMR titration experiment validated the bifunctional catalytic mechanism wherein both the epoxide activation and the nucleophilic ring‐opening process occur in concert en route to carbon dioxide fixation.

中文翻译：

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静电增强的苯酚作为简单有效的二氧化碳固定双功能有机催化剂

描述了一种静电增强的苯酚，它是一种在环境友好的条件下将环氧化物原子经济转化为环状碳酸酯的简单而有效的双官能有机催化剂。通过模块化的一步合成将带正电荷的中心引入酚中，可制得具有增强的酸度和反应性，能够进行环氧化物活化，卤化物亲核开环过程和CO ₂的双功能体系以协同的方式并入。对不同的带正电荷的苯酚的效率以及温度，催化剂负载量和亲核试剂性质等不同参数对催化活性的影响进行了合理的研究。此外，FTIR-ATR和¹ H NMR光谱进一步探索了环氧化物向相应的环状碳酸酯的时间依赖性转化。该双功能催化平台是最温和，最有效的无金属系统之一，该系统能够在几乎环境条件下将多种环氧化物转化为环状碳酸酯。在¹1 H NMR滴定实验验证了双功能催化机制，其中环氧活化和亲核开环过程同时发生在固定二氧化碳的过程中。