CO2 utilization in organic synthesis

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important component in the air and well-known as a greenhouse gas that has an important impact on climate change. Meanwhile, it is also an inexpensive, readily available, non-toxic, and renewable carbon-resource. In order to promote resource discovery, environmental protection and sustainable human development, it is of great significance to transfer CO2 to valuable molecules, such as drugs, materials and fuels. However, due to its thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness, it is highly challenging to achieve efficient transformations of CO2 under mild conditions. Our group has been focusing on CO2 utilization in organic synthesis since 2015. In this talk I will introduce the direct use of CO2 as the combination of CO and oxidant (“CO2 = CO + [O]”) to realize the redox-neutral lactamization and lactonization of C─H bonds.2 In addition, I will also talk about radical-type organic transformations with CO2, highly enantioselective transformations of alkenes with CO2, as well as the photocatalytic carboxylations of bulk chemicals to generate a variety of substituted diacids, amino acids, hydroxyl acids and other monomers for polymerization. We hope these efforts will provide new methods for efficient CO2 utilization in organic synthesis.

 

Selected References

[1] For our reviews, see: a) Coord. Chem. Rev. 2018, 374, 439. b) Chem. Commun. 2020, 56, 8355. c) Sci. China Chem. 2020, 63, 1336. d) Acc. Chem. Res. 2021, 54, 2518.

[2] For selected examples, see: a) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 7068. b) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 10022. c) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 15416. d) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 17011. e) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 13897. f) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 17338. g) Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 3592. h) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 18825. i) Nat. Commun. 2020, 11, 3263. j) CCS Chem. 2020, 2, 1746. k) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 21121. l) Nat. Catal. 2021, 4, 304. m) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 2812; n) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 14068; o) Nat. Commun. 2021, 12, 3306; p) Chem 2021, 7, 3099; q) Nat. Commun. 2021, 12, 7086; r) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 2062.

Speakers

Da-Gang Yu

Professor at Sichuan University