Catalytic Carboxylation of Terminal Alkynes with CO2: An Overview

A large amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere by energy and industrial plants resulting in significant environment impacts. A considerable effort went into decreasing CO2 emissions. The carboxylation reaction of converting CO2 with aromatic alkynes to important chemicals such as carboxylic acids is one of the promising CO2 utilization methods, and it can be performed in the catalytic or non-catalytic pathway. Our review article provides an overview of recent publications on the use of catalytic systems with different compositions and structures for the carboxylation of terminal alkynes by involving CO2, and the effect of a solvent and base. Relying on the research results, the use of heterogeneous catalysts is the most effective. The advantage of catalytic systems is a lower reaction temperature and pressure. Heterogeneous silver-containing catalysts exhibit good yields of products and high selectivity. Moreover, the catalysts may lose their efficiency when interacting with moisture. It has been found that the most effective catalysts for the carboxylation of phenylacetylene with carbon dioxide as a carboxylating agent are copper-based catalysts. These catalysts are characterized by high activity and stability. We highlight the challenges of developing novel catalyst systems tuning catalytic properties. The future outlook and perspectives are also discussed.