Transforming carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into value-added products: boracarboxylation and boracarbonylation

The synthesis of high-value molecules from economical and renewable sources has witnessed renewed interest in recent years. Specifically, catalytic fixations of C1 oxygenate (CO2 and CO) into useful compounds represent an extensive implication owing to their ability to use greenhouse gases. In this respect, the boracarboxylation of unsaturated substrates with boron and CO2 is of particular interest owing to the wide applicability of C-B bonds in various chemical transformations. Further, many novel procedures for the simultaneous addition of boron and carbonyl groups (boracarbonylation) across alkenes in a regioselective manner have been developed, enabling the construction of complex molecules. Over the last decade, significant steps have been taken to access boron-functionalized complex organic molecules by employing transition-metal catalysts for the effective utilization of CO2 and CO for various organic transformations. These strategies have proven to be convenient, straightforward, and broadly applicable. In this review, we present an overview of catalytic boracarboxylation and boracarbonylation processes as well as the underlying mechanisms. This review surveys the current state-of-the-art of catalytic difunctionalization of unsaturated substrates with easily accessible feedstocks CO2/CO and heteroelement boron for the synthesis of fine chemicals and medicinally important molecules.