Carboxylation of olefins/alkynes with CO2 to industrially relevant acrylic acid derivatives

Carbon dioxide utilization has continued to capture the interest of chemists worldwide due to global warming associated with positive carbon accumulation. As an environmentally friendly C1 feedstock, the reaction of carbon dioxide has been extensively investigated for several decades. On the other hand, acrylic acid is a valuable industrial product that is widely used for various important purposes in industry. From the point view of atom- and process-economical chemistry, the most concise and promising route for acrylic acid derivatives synthesis would be direct carboxylation of olefins or alkynes with carbon dioxide. In this review, we would like to discuss and update the latest advances on synthesis of acrylic acid derivatives from unsaturated hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.