CO₂-Mediated Formation of Chiral Fine Chemicals

The utilization of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for the synthesis of organic chemicals can contribute to a more sustainable chemical industry, since CO₂ is an abundant, inexpensive, and nontoxic renewable C₁ resource. Nevertheless, far less attention was paid to the stereochemically controlled catalytic CO₂ fixation/conversion processes. This review therefore aims to principally showcase the recent progress regarding CO₂-mediated formation of chiral fine chemicals, including enantioselective synthesis of cyclic carbonates by asymmetric ring opening of epoxides with CO₂, enantioselective synthesis of oxazolidinones by the coupling reaction of aziridines with CO₂- or base-mediated formation of oxazolidinone from ethanolamines, metal-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of functional carboxylic acids and derivatives, and enantioselective synthesis of CO₂-based polycarbonates from epoxides.