Environmentally benign chemical fixation of CO2 catalyzed by the functionalized ion-exchange resins

Basic ion-exchange resins, one kind of polystyryl-supported tertiary amine, were demonstrated to be highly efficient and recyclable catalysts for the fixation of carbon dioxide with aziridines under mild conditions, leading to the formation of 5-aryl-2-oxazolidinone with excellent regio-selectivities. Notably, neither solvents nor any additives were required, and the catalyst could be recovered by simple filtration and directly reused at least five times without significant loss of catalytic activity and selectivity. The present protocol has been applied to reactions of epoxides/propargyl amines with CO₂/CS₂. This solvent-free process thus represents environmentally friendly catalytic conversion of CO₂ into value-added chemicals and may have potential in various continuous flow reactors in industry.