Carbon dioxide utilization as a soft oxidant and promoter in catalysis

The utilization of CO2 as a soft oxidant and promoter is a promising concept for industrial applications that could not only contribute to the mitigation of CO2 levels, but also the development of economical and energy efficient syntheses of various chemicals. The abundant availability, non-toxic, economic and mild oxidizing properties of CO2 has resulted in immense interest in its use as an oxidant in several reactions, such as the oxidative coupling of CH4 and the oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes and alkyl aromatics. At present, only a few processes based on CO2 as a soft oxidant have been realised on a technical scale in spite of dedicated research. This review is intended to trace the emergence, application and understanding of such systems and shed light on the further development that may lead to industrial scale operations in the near future.