Recent advances in catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to propiolic acids over coinage-metal-based catalysts

Abstract The conversion of inexpensive, available C1 feedstock of carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added fine chemicals via homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysis has attracted great recent interest. Coinage-metal-based (Cu, Ag, and Au) catalysis has emerged as a synthetic strategy for a wide range of organic chemical reactions in past decades. In coinage-metal-catalyzed carboxylation, CO2 is adopted as a carboxylation reagent, while coinage-metal salts, complexes, and nanoparticles (NPs) serve as a Lewis acid catalyst to activate unsaturated chemicals, particularly alkynes. This mini-review focuses on the recent advances of coinage-metal-catalyzed carboxylation of terminal alkynes with CO2. Other respects, such as the role of bases, the influence of trace water, and solvent effects are also highlighted.