Progress and challenges in dicarboxylation with CO₂

Abstract

Dicarboxylic acids, which are appealing structural motifs in organic synthesis and exist widely in bioactive compounds, have been widely used as important monomers in the polymer industry to construct valuable materials. The dicarboxylation with CO2 provides a convenient and potent way to furnish value-added dicarboxylic acids via the chemical fixation of two CO2 molecules. Beyond any doubt, the development of dicarboxylation, especially the dicarboxylation of bulk chemicals, might represent a promising prospect in CO2 capture and utilization (CCU). In this review, we critically summarized and comprehensively reviewed the advances made in the past decades in dicarboxylation with CO2 under electro-, photo- and transition metal-mediated/catalytic systems. Moreover, the advantages and limitations of such dicarboxylation reactions are pointed out to unravel further development for future scientific and industrial advances in dicarboxylation with CO2 to synthesize dicarboxylic acids in high selectivity and efficiency.

Keywords

• carbon dioxide
• dicarboxylation
• electrochemistry
• photoredox catalysis
• transition-metal catalysis