Double Carbonylation Reactions: Overview and Recent Advances

Abstract The compounds like amides, carbamates, oxamates, oxamides, α ‐keto amides, diketones, esters, ureas, etc . find extensive applications in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and organic synthesis. The classical syntheses of these compounds often involve cumbersome routes involving toxic chemicals. The carbonylation reactions such as aminocarbonylation, alkoxycarbonylation, oxidative carbonylation and double carbonylation deliver as an efficient and attractive alternative to the conventional synthetic routes even at industrial scales. The catalytic single carbonylation reactions are extensively studied, however, catalytic double carbonylation reactions are not explored for several potential applications. This review covers literature on the use of different types of catalysts involving various metals like Pd, Cu, Fe, Co, Rh and Ni for double carbonylation reactions along with the chemistry of associated ligands. It also covers double carbonylation with different types of substrates with the discussion related to the mechanism of formation of mono‐ and di‐carbonylation products. The notable introduction of several CO‐surrogates and exploration of their efficiency have solved the problems related to the toxicity of CO. CO‐surrogates used for double carbonylation reactions are also discussed. magnified image