materials Article Study of Superbase-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents as the Catalyst in the Chemical Fixation of CO2 into Cyclic Carbonates under Mild Conditions Sara García-Argüelles 1,2, Maria Luisa Ferrer 1,* , Marta Iglesias 1, Francisco Del Monte 1 and María Concepción Gutiérrez 1,* 1 Materials Science Factory, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Campus de Cantoblanco, C/Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
[email protected] (S.G.-A.);
[email protected] (M.I.);
[email protected] (F.D.M.) 2 Departamento de Tecnología Química y Energética, Tecnologia Química y Ambiental y Tecnología Mecánica y Química Analítica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28933 Madrid, Spain * Correspondence:
[email protected] (M.L.F.);
[email protected] (M.C.G.); Tel.: +34-913349059 (M.L.F.); +34-913349056 (M.C.G.) Received: 8 June 2017; Accepted: 29 June 2017; Published: 7 July 2017 Abstract: Superbases have shown high performance as catalysts in the chemical fixation of CO2 to epoxides. The proposed reaction mechanism typically assumes the formation of a superbase, the CO2 adduct as the intermediate, most likely because of the well-known affinity between superbases and CO2, i.e., superbases have actually proven quite effective for CO2 absorption. In this latter use, concerns about the chemical stability upon successive absorption-desorption cycles also merits attention when using superbases as catalysts. In this work, 1H NMR spectroscopy was used to get further insights about (1) whether a superbase, the CO2 adduct, is formed as an intermediate and (2) the chemical stability of the catalyst after reaction.