at moderate temperatures (140 °C) and short residence times (<10 min). The efficient direct synthesis of glycerol-1,2-carbonate from glycerol and inert CO2 remains a major challenge. Reports of yields of up to 35% in the reaction in methanol with dibutyltin oxide as a catalyst at 80 °C could not be confirmed. The results actually achieved are a maximum of 17% when using acetonitrile, which reacts in the basic (potassium carbonate) with the water formed to form acetamide. The reaction conditions required on a 5 millimolar scale (80 bar CO2 pressure, 155 °C reaction temperature, 16 h reaction time) are not yet suitable for an economical industrial synthesis. When CO2 is passed through to strip the water of reaction, a maximum yield of 13% is achieved under optimized conditions. The direct carbonylation of glycerol with CO2 over highly active cerium(IV) oxide CeO2 catalysts in the presence of the water-binding reagent [2-cyanopyridine and the solvent dimethylformamide DMF at 150 °C, 40 MPa CO2 pressure and 5 h reaction time gives in 10 millimolar batches "... the incredibly high yield of glycerol carbonate..." of up to 78.9%, with the cerium oxide catalyst being regenerated after 5 cycles by calcining at 400 °C. Characteristics Glycerol-1,2-carbonate is a clear colourless viscous liquid with a mild odour, which is completely soluble in water and in polar organic solvents such as e.g. B. alcohols mixes. The compound is in the form of a racemate and can be separated into the enantiomers enzymatically with lipase. The polymers cellulose acetate, nitrocellulose, polyamides and polyacrylonitrile are soluble in glycerol carbonate. The compound is non-flammable, non-toxic and easily biodegradable, it has a low evaporation rate and high moisture retention capacity. Applications Potentially large-volume applications of glycerol-1,2-carbonate would be of enormous interest in view of the fact that the glycerol flood can probably only be managed through caloric utilization and the suitability of glycerol carbonate for the chemical fixation of large amounts of CO2. At high temperatures, glycerol carbonate decomposes almost exclusively into carbon dioxide and 3-hydroxypropanal HOCH 2 CH 2 CHO, a reactive aldehyde with great potential as a fuel additive to reduce soot formation in internal combustion engines. Glycerol-1,2-carbonate can be used in particular in cosmetics and personal care products as a protic solvent with a high Permittivity ε=82.7 and humectant. Because of its similarity to propylene carbonateand because of its non-flammability and high dielectric constants, which allow much higher