Carbon Dioxide as an Alternative C1 Synthetic Unit: Activation by Transition‐Metal Complexes

Abstract The carbon dioxide molecule has been of limited importance as a synthetic unit in organic chemistry. When it is coordinated to transition metals, however, completely new possibilities arise; CO 2 can bond to metal complexes in a variety of ways and can enter into insertion and coupling reactions, or become catalytically attached to other substrates. The formation of CC bonds between carbon dioxide and unsaturated hydrocarbons under conditions of homogeneous catalysis makes available new synthetic routes to industrially interesting organic compounds.