Utilisation of CO2 as a chemical feedstock:: opportunities and challenges

The need to reduce the accumulation of CO2 into the atmosphere requires new technologies able to reduce the CO2 emission. The utilization of CO2 as a building block may represent an interesting approach to synthetic methodologies less intensive in carbon and energy. In this paper the general properties of carbon dioxide and its interaction with metal centres is first considered. The potential of carbon dioxide as a raw material in the synthesis of chemicals such as carboxylates, carbonates, carbamates is then discussed. The utilization of CO2 as source of carbon for the synthesis of fuels or other C-1 molecules such as formic acid and methanol is also described and the conditions for its implementation are outlined. A comparison of chemical and biotechnological conversion routes of CO2 is made and the barriers to their exploitation are highlighted.