Global concerns about high CO₂ levels and dwindling supplies of fossil resources are increasing. The utilization of CO₂ and waste biomass as renewable resources for valuable products is highly desirable to make various supply chains ‘greener’. Synthesis of cyclic carbonate from epoxide and CO₂ is a highly promising reaction due to its 100% atom economy. Organic cyclic carbonates have a broad range of applications, such as high boiling point green polar aprotic solvents, electrolytes in Li-ion batteries, the monomer for polycarbonates and polyurethanes synthesis, intermediates for the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and many other fine chemicals. Over the last 20 years significant progress has been made in this field of research. This review covers the recent developments in catalytic systems for the above-mentioned reaction that includes kinetics, mechanistic investigations and highlights the parameters affecting their activity and selectivity. Moreover, the recent efforts on the utilization of renewable resources as potential raw materials for the cyclic carbonate synthesis have also been discussed. Nonetheless, to satisfy the demands of a multi-scale approach for industrial transformation, the use of flow chemistry and novel reactor designs for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates has been also discussed.

全球对高CO ₂水平和化石资源供应减少的担忧日益增加。为了使各种供应链“更绿色”，非常需要利用CO ₂和废物生物质作为可再生资源获得有价值的产品。由环氧化物和CO ₂合成环状碳酸酯由于其100％的原子经济性，这是一个非常有前途的反应。有机环状碳酸酯具有广泛的应用，例如高沸点绿色极性非质子溶剂，锂离子电池中的电解质，聚碳酸酯和聚氨酯合成的单体，医药生产的中间体和许多其他精细化学品。在过去的20年中，该研究领域取得了重大进展。这篇综述涵盖了上述反应的催化体系的最新进展，包括动力学，机理研究，并重点介绍了影响其活性和选择性的参数。此外，还讨论了最近关于利用可再生资源作为合成环状碳酸酯的潜在原料的努力。尽管如此，