An environmentally benign process for aromatic polycarbonate synthesis by efficient oxidative carbonylation catalyzed by Pd-carbene complexes

The direct synthesis of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) and polycarbonate (PC) by oxidative carbonylation was investigated. A palladium catalyst anchored to a resin via a heterocyclic carbene ligand exhibited high performance in DPC synthesis, and the total turnover number (TON) achieved 5 100 (mol-DPC/mol-Pd). Bisphenol A was also effectively converted to high molecular weight PC (M-w 22,400) at 95% yield.