Valorization of CO2 into N-alkyl Oxazolidin-2-ones Promoted by Metal-Free Porphyrin/TBACl System: Experimental and Computational Studies

The cycloaddition of CO2 to N-alkyl aziridines was efficiently promoted by the convenient TPPH2/TBACl binary catalytic system. The metal-free procedure was effective for the synthesis of differently substituted N-alkyl oxazolidin-2-ones in yields up to 100 % and excellent regioselectivities (up to 99 %). The mechanism of the reaction was proposed based on a DFT study which indicated the formation of an adduct between TPPH2 and TBACl as the effective catalytic active species.