Green Chemistry CRITICAL REVIEW Cite this: DOI: 10.1039/c2gc36525a Received 26th September 2012, Accepted 30th November 2012 DOI: 10.1039/c2gc36525a www.rsc.org/greenchem Glycerol carbonate as a versatile building block for tomorrow: synthesis, reactivity, properties and applications Matthieu O. Sonnati, a,b Sonia Amigoni, a Elisabeth P. Taffin de Givenchy, a Thierry Darmanin, a Olivier Choulet b and Frédéric Guittard* a The synthesis, reactivity and applications of glycerol carbonate (glycerine carbonate or 4-hydroxymethyl- 2-oxo-1,3-dioxolane) are discussed and reviewed. Supported by the increasing sustainable awareness, glycerol carbonate has gained much interest over the last 20 years because of its versatile reactivity and as a way to valorize waste glycerol. Numerous synthesis pathways for this molecule were identified, some of them very promising and on the verge of being applied at an industrial scale. The wide reactivity of this molecule due to the presence of both a hydroxyl group and a 2-oxo-1,3-dioxolane group has been studied and has initiated some emerging applications in various domains from solvents to polymers. Introduction Until recently, raw material origins (i.e. fossil or renewable) were not a major concern for the chemical industry. For a long time, cost and performance have been the main drivers of innovation. The increasing sustainable awareness, supported by both public opinion and governments, has added a new constraint for the chemist, which is to take into account the origin of the used raw materials. Glycerol carbonate (glycerine carbonate or 4-hydroxymethyl- 2-oxo-1,3-dioxolane) is a promising molecule bearing both a hydroxyl group and a 2-oxo-1,3-dioxolane group (ODO) (Fig. 1). This small molecule (molar weight is 118.09 g mol -1 ) has gained much interest over the last 20 years for two main reasons: (1) its wide reactivity, implying numerous appli- cations, (2) as a way to valorize glycerol, which is becoming widely available as a major biobased by-product from the Matthieu O. Sonnati Matthieu Sonnati holds a BS in Chemistry and an MS in Materials Science from the Uni- versity of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, France. He previously worked as an R&D engineer at the Rohm and Haas’ Springhouse Techni- cal Center in Pennsylvania, USA. In 2011, he joined Prof. Frederic Guittard’s research group at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipo- lis where he is currently a PhD student. His research interests include polymer synthesis and characterization, plastic processing, materials testing and bio- based chemicals, with special focus on coatings, plastics and adhesive applications. Sonia Amigoni Sonia Amigoni was born in 1969, she received her PhD in 1996 from the University of Rennes. Then she was nominated as an Associate Professor in 1999 at the University of Ver- sailles-Saint Quentin en Yvelines after a postdoctoral period on the synthesis of nanomaterials for sensing purposes. She joined Prof. Frederic Guittard’s research group at the University of Nice in 2005. Her main research pro- spect is now the use of nanoma- terials for the construction of nanoparticle networks in solution or at the surface of materials to control their surface activity. a Université de Nice – Sophia Antipolis, Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, UMR 7336, Groupe Equipe Surfaces et Interfaces, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France. E-mail: guittard@unice.fr; Fax: +334 9207 6156; Tel: +334 9207 6159 b Ecoat S.A.S., InnovaGrasse, Espace Jacques-Louis Lions, 4 Traverse Dupont, 06130 Grasse, France. Fax: +334 8985 6034; Tel: +334 8985 6033 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012 Green Chem.