Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction is an attractive solution for converting CO2 into reusable chemicals. However, the low activity of the catalysts restricts its widespread conversion application. This study uses a...

Asymmetric electrochemical carboxylation is the direct and effective method to fix and utilize CO2, and the selection of chiral catalysts is crucial. In this paper, a series of chiral metal salen complexes are prepared as chiral catalysts to achieve enantioselective conversion of acetophenone with CO2 to synthesis chiral 2‐hydroxy‐2‐phenylpropionic acid under electrochemical conditions. Under the catalysis of NiIIL1, the enantiomeric excess (ee) value of 90 % and yield of 59 % are obtained. By cyclic voltammetry and potentiostatic electrolysis, the effects of metal centers and tert‐butyl groups in ligand structures on the catalytic results are studied and the possible reaction mechanism is proposed.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is regarded as an ideal C1 building block for the synthesis of value-added chemicals due to its low price, non-toxic, rich reserves, and recyclability. Organic electrosynthesis, using electricity as the driving force to avoid the use of toxic or expensive reducing agents, has become an efficient and environmentally friendly synthetic method and is widely used in the chemical conversion of CO2. In particular, the electro carboxylation reaction of CO2 with a substrate containing a specific group, such as C=O and C=N, can be realized to synthesize α-hydroxy acids, amino acids, and their derivatives under mild reaction conditions by accurately adjusting the current or potential. In this review, we focus on the recent advances in the electrocarboxylation of CO2 with unsaturated substrates (including ketones, aldehydes, and imines) in the past five years, which we hope could stimulate further research on electrocarboxylation of CO2 with ketones, aldehydes, and imines and provide a reference for the application of such reactions in green organic electrosynthesis in the future.

CuSb anchored onto nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (CuSb/NMC) were prepared for electroreduction of CO2 to CH4, C2H4 and CO.