In this volume Professor He and his coworkers summarize polyethylene glycol (PEG)-promoted CO2
chemistry on the basis of understanding about phase behavior of PEG CO2 system and reaction
mechanism at molecular level. As PEG could be utilized as a green replacement for organic
solvents phase-transfer catalyst surfactant support in various reaction systems
significantly promoting catalytic activity and recovering expensive metal catalysts
particularly regarded as a CO2-philic material the authors focus on special applications of
PEG in CO2 capture and utilization including PEG-functionalized catalysts for efficient
transformation of CO2 and PEG-functionalized absorbents for efficient CO2 capture. Furthermore
they describe carbon capture and utilization strategy as an alternative approach to address the
energy penalty problem in carbon capture and storage. Interestingly the authors also discuss
PEG radical chemistry in dense CO2 as rather creative and unusual use of PEG presumably serves
as a reaction medium and a radical initiator for radical chemistry.
