CO2-to-Polyol Copolymerization Reactor

Captured CO₂ is not only stored underground — catalytic chemistry can lock it directly into everyday materials. This simulator models the ring-opening copolymerization of CO₂ with an epoxide over a single metal catalyst center: at each step the catalyst inserts either a CO₂ molecule (forming a carbonate linkage) or another epoxide unit (an ether "defect"), with the odds set by real Arrhenius kinetics that respond to CO₂ pressure, temperature, and the steric bulk of the chosen epoxide. Watch the polymer chain grow atom by atom in 3D, track live CO₂ incorporation, chain length, and estimated molecular weight, and see how excessive heat or too little CO₂ pressure triggers a back-biting side reaction that truncates the chain — exactly the trade-off industrial CO2-based polyol and polycarbonate producers have to manage.