Update and Challenges in Carbon Dioxide‐Based Polycarbonate Synthesis

The utilization of carbon dioxide as a comonomer to produce polycarbonates has attracted a great deal of attention from both industrial and academic communities because it promises to replace petroleum‐derived plastics and supports a sustainable environment. Significant progress in the copolymerization of cyclic ethers (e.g., epoxide, oxetane) and carbon dioxide has been made in recent decades, owing to the rapid development of catalysts. In this Review, the focus is to summarize and discuss recent advances in the development of homogeneous catalysts, including metal‐ and organo‐based complexes, as well as the preparation of carbon dioxide‐based block copolymer and functional polycarbonates. Poly put the CO2 on! The present review aims to report the updates and challenges in CO2‐based (poly)carbonate synthesis. It focuses on progress realized in the preparation of cyclic carbonate synthons and aliphatic polycarbonate preparation from CO2/epoxide copolymerization. Furthermore, all metal‐based processes are comprehensively discussed and the rapidly developing field of organocatalytic approaches is included.