Executive Summary : | The project proposes a sustainable approach to converting CO₂ emissions from industries and power plants into value-added products. The coupling of three-membered cyclic ethers (epoxides or oxiranes) with CO₂ presents an economical and greener solution to address climate change. This approach can result in cheaper and cleaner production processes, and the use of carbon dioxide for creating value-added products could reduce the overall cost of CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. The first part of the project involves obtaining epoxides from renewable resources and exploring new metal-containing or metal-free organocatalysts that can show higher TON or TOFs for selective copolymerization of epoxides and CO₂ to afford biodegradable polycarbonates. These block copolymers will be used for creating metallopolymers, which can lead to self-assembled nano-sized micellar structures in water. The second stage of the project investigates the applications of these polymers as self-healing materials, inks for 3D printing, micellar catalysis, and polymeric materials for NO release. The metallopolymers synthesized during the coupling of CO₂ and epoxides introduce dynamic physical and chemical interactions, introducing adhesive and self-healing properties. The amphiphilic polycarbonates with well-defined metal complexes in the backbone result in self-assembled nanomicelles in water, which can be tested for catalyzing organic transformations in water, such as micellar catalysis. The final stage involves testing the biodegradability of these polycarbonates, contributing to recycling and the circular economy. |