Transition Metal-Promoted CO2 Conversion under Mild Reaction Conditions

Carbon dioxide can be regarded as an inexpensive, abundant sustainable feedstock for producing value-added chemicals. Therefore, development of efficacious processes using CO2 as chemical feedstock under mild conditions particularly low CO2 pressure (ideally at 1 bar) could be still highly desirable. Accordingly, only if we understand the underlying principles of CO2 activation can the goal of using CO2 as an environmentally friendly and economically feasible source of carbon under mild reaction conditions be achieved. In this regard, transition metal catalysis based on CO2 activation for efficient chemical transformation of CO2 with outstanding selectivities is appealing from a standpoint of sustainable chemistry. In this context, great efforts have been devoted to constructing C-N and C-O bond on the basis of selecting high-energy starting materials and CO2 activation through molecular catalysis to overcome its thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness. The aim of this chapter is to draw attention to the chemical fixation of CO2 with propargylic alcohols or propargylmines to a-alkylene cyclic carbonates, fi-oxoalkylcarbamates and 2-oxazolidinones through various transition metal catalysis. This is an attractive strategy to utilize CO2 to produce useful products. A thorough overview of the catalytic utilization of CO2 with propargylic alcohols with gaining insights into the reaction mechanism is also presented.