Recent progress in CO2 conversion into organic chemicals by molecular catalysis

The chemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into high-value chemicals or fuels is exceedingly attractive due to its green and sustainable features. However, practical technologies on scale utilization of CO₂ are few, and nearly no new industrial processes on the topic have emerged over the years. The current bottlenecks, e.g., low efficiency and atom economy, seriously restrict the process development. In recent studies, the catalytic activation of CO₂ and/or substrate has been revealed to play a significant role in the promotion of CO₂ functionalization to valuable chemicals, including the representative reactions of epoxides/propargyl alcohols/propargylamines with CO₂, multicomponent cascade reactions, N-formylation of amines with CO₂ and hydrosilanes, and unactivated C–H bond carboxylation. Herein, recent significant advances (2017–2022) on the effective chemical fixation of CO₂ through molecular activation or synergistic activation strategies in homogeneous systems are presented. The superiority of molecular activation in thermochemical catalysis is shown in a wide range of CO₂ transformations. Through CO₂/substrate activation and catalysis with well-developed metal or organocatalysts, valuable chemicals are successfully attained with great efficiency. The new progress will provide significant guidance to promote the effective and sustainable utilization of CO₂.