Substrate-Assisted Carbon Dioxide Activation as a Versatile Approach for Heterocyclic Synthesis

The incorporation of CO₂ into substrates containing alcohol or amine functional groups displays interesting substrate-controlled reactivity, both in terms of providing milder reaction conditions and the potential towards new reactivity modes. Various heterocyclic structures can be prepared using this substrate-driven approach starting from functional derivatives of (homo)allylic and propargylic alcohols/amines, epoxy alcohols, and hydroxy-oxetanes among others. This review summarizes the recent advances made in this area. 1 Introduction 2 Catalytic Conversion of Propargylic Alcohols 3 Catalytic Conversion of Propargylic Amines 4 Homoallylic and Allylic Alcohol Substrate Conversions 5 Transformation of Allylic Amines 6 Epoxy Alcohols/Amines as Substrates 7 Hydroxy-Substituted Oxetane and Azetidine Scaffolds 8 Conversion of Other Substrates 9 Summary and Outlook