Chiral Catalysts for the Enantioselective Carbon Dioxide-Based Cyclic Carbonates and Polycarbonates

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this review, the authors focuses on the recent development regarding the use of chiral catalysts for the enantioselective CO₂-based cyclic bonates and polycarbonates. I would like to recommend its acceptance after addressing the following issues:

1. Some pictures are not very clear and need to be modified. (eg. Figure 5)

2. The format of the units in the article is not uniform.

3. How to adjust the selectivity of the product and what are the requirements for the catalyst structure? Relevant content and literature can be appropriately added.

The format of the references is not standardized.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Moderate editing of English language required.

Author Response

In this review, the authors focuses on the recent development regarding the use of chiral catalysts for the enantioselective CO₂-based cyclic bonates and polycarbonates. I would like to recommend its acceptance after addressing the following issues:

1. Some pictures are not very clear and need to be modified. (eg. Figure 5)

We thank the referee for his/her comment, Figure 5 has been rewritten in a clearer format, highlighting the active sites with color. Moreover, we have included the ee of the enantiomer obtained with each catalyst at the different Figures through the text.

 

2. The format of the units in the article is not uniform.

We thank the referee for his/her comment, the format of the units (e.g. ºC, bar) and other abbreviations, such as e.e., have been homogenized throughout the text, figures and tables. 

3. How to adjust the selectivity of the product and what are the requirements for the catalyst structure? Relevant content and literature can be appropriately added.

 

We thank the referee for his/her comment; we have included a paragraph in the last section (see highlighted yellow text at the conclusions and outlook section on page 16) related to this suggestion

 

4. The format of the references is not standardized.

We thank the referee for his/her comment, the format of all the references has been homogenized according to the journal guidelines.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this review, Altava, Cirujano and Garcia-Verdugo listed a series of metal complexes for the enantioselective synthesis of CO2-based cyclic carbonates and polycarbonates. The work is exhaustive, dividing the complexes by classes based on the structure and different families. The mechanisms of the reaction and the enantioselectivity are clearly elucidated. Something it might be missing, is the range of yield and ee% below each product in the schemes. Adding those data directly to the pictures may be beneficial for the manuscript delivery. The length of the manuscript and the conclusions and perspectives are appropriate. In my opinion, something that is missing here is a consideration about the lower ee% recovered for many examples and how the field is moving forward to face this challenge.

 

-ref 64 is M. Aresta

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English require moderate polishing and typos editing

Author Response

In this review, Altava, Cirujano and Garcia-Verdugo listed a series of metal complexes for the enantioselective synthesis of CO2-based cyclic carbonates and polycarbonates. The work is exhaustive, dividing the complexes by classes based on the structure and different families. The mechanisms of the reaction and the enantioselectivity are clearly elucidated.

 

Something it might be missing, is the range of yield and ee% below each product in the schemes. Adding those data directly to the pictures may be beneficial for the manuscript delivery.

 

We thank the referee for his/her comment, we have included the e.e. values and the configuration of the cyclic carbonate enantiomer obtained bellow each catalyst or product at the different Schemes and Figures of the manuscript.

 

The length of the manuscript and the conclusions and perspectives are appropriate.

 

In my opinion, something that is missing here is a consideration about the lower ee% recovered for many examples and how the field is moving forward to face this challenge.

 

We thank the referee for his/her comment; we have included a paragraph in the last section (see highlighted yellow text at the conclusions and outlook section on page 16) related to this suggestion

 

 

-ref 64 is M. Aresta

 

We thank the referee for his/her comment, we have amended the typo(s) on this and on the rest of the references.