Valorising CO2 for oxidative carboxylation of olefins.

Carbon capture and utilization has become of utmost importance and urgency to reduce CO2 concentration and use captured CO2 to synthesize high-value molecular building blocks. A widely exploited reaction is the oxidative carboxylation of olefins to cyclic carbonates, which allows both CO2 fixation and valuable product formation, under environment-friendly conditions. This paper is a perusal of molecular and material-based catalysts reported for this specific reaction, namely metal-based catalysts, nitrogen-based catalysts, oxides and nanocatalysts, with a particular focus on studies published over the last 10 years. The examples are provided with details of their nature and catalytic mechanisms, together with a critical analysis of their advantages and drawbacks, and the improvements that future research in this field should aim to achieve.