Using carbon dioxide as a building block in organic synthesis

Abstract

Carbon dioxide exits in the atmosphere and is produced by the combustion of fossil fuels, the fermentation of sugars and the respiration of all living organisms. An active goal in organic synthesis is to take this carbon-trapped in a waste product-and re-use it to build useful chemicals. Recent advances in organometallic chemistry and catalysis provide effective means for the chemical transformation of CO 2 and its incorporation into synthetic organic molecules under mild conditions. Such a use of carbon dioxide as a renewable one-carbon (C1) building block in organic synthesis could contribute to a more sustainable use of resources.A more sensible resource management is the prerequisite for the sustainable development of future generations. However, when dealing with the feedstock of the chemical industry, the level of sustainability is still far from satisfactory. Until now, the vast majority of carbon resources are based on crude oil, natural gas and coal. In addition to biomass, CO 2 offers the possibility to create a renewable carbon economy. Since pre-industrial times, the amount of CO 2 has steadily increased and nowadays CO 2 is a component of greenhouse gases, which are primarily responsible for the rise in atmospheric temperature and probably abnormal changes in the global climate. This increase in CO 2 concentration is largely due to the combustion of fossil fuels, which are required to meet the world's energy demand 1 . Obviously, there is an urgent need to control CO 2 emissions and develop efficient carbon capture systems. Although the extensive use of carbon dioxide for chemical production cannot solve this problem alone, CO 2 is a useful one-carbon (C1) building block in organic synthesis due to its abundance, availability, nontoxicity and recyclability. As a result, valorization of CO 2 is currently receiving considerable and ever increasing attention by the scientific community 2-4 . However, activation and utilization of CO 2 is still problematic due to the fact that it is the most oxidized form of carbon, which is also thermodynamically stable and/or kinetically inert in certain desired transformations. Consequently, most of the known studies used highly reactive substrates and/or severe reaction conditions to activate CO 2 , limiting the application of such methods. In particular, the catalytic coupling of CO 2 with energy-rich substrates, such as epoxides and aziridines, to generate polycarbonates/polycarbamates and/or cyclic carbonates/carbamates has drawn significant attention over the past decades. To create C-C bonds with CO 2 , the use of carbon nucleophiles is specifically limited to strong nucleophilic organolithiums and Grignard reagents, as well as phenolates.

Carbon dioxide/methanol conversion cycle based on cascade enzymatic reactions supported on superparamagnetic nanoparticles

“…The growing interest on CO 2 transformation into important starting feedstock in the chemical industries has arisen due to the negative environmental prospects of fossil fuels use (Liu et al 2015). For instance, carbon dioxide has been announced as one of the most important greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, and the use of fossil fuels resources (oil, natural gas, coal) has a negative impact on the environment due to high concentrations of carboncontaining products managed by the modern society.…”

Cationic Polymers Bearing Quaternary Ammonium Groups-Catalyzed CO2 Fixation with Epoxides

“…[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]). This transformation is not only interesting because of the importance of the hereby obtained dioxolanes [41,42], but it also provides a powerful approach for the utilization of CO 2 as a simple one carbon-source for organic transformations [43,44]. Accordingly, there is a strong interest in the development of new and alternative catalyst systems to carry out such reactions under operationally simple and mild conditions.…”

Oxidative Carboxylation of 1-Decene to 1,2-Decylene Carbonate

“…One way towards reduction of carbon dioxide emission to the atmosphere, is the use of concentrated CO 2 streams produced at industrial locations, as a starting material in chemical synthesis [1] before it is released to the atmosphere. Cyclic carbonates represent a family of compounds where carbon dioxide is used as a feedstock to form value-added chemicals.…”