There is a growing interest to reduce CO2 emissions due to the increasing impact of climate change worldwide. To achieve this goal, various studies are being conducted, including the reductive functionalization of CO2, which involves the formation of new bonds (C-N, C-C, C-O) as well as the reduction of CO2 in the presence of a reductant, such as molecular hydrogen, hydrosilane, or hydroborane. Moreover, this novel protocol enlarges the spectra of valuable compounds which are directly available from this nontoxic and abundant CO2, providing new ideas for synthetic organic chemists.1 In this context, transition metal-catalyzed reductive functionalization of CO2 is an atom-economic reaction that produces formamide, methylamine and urea derivatives, which are highly valuable in organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals, polymers, and agrochemistry etc.2 Use of the noble metal such as Ru and Rh based complexes in this transformation are well studied in the literature.3 Later researchers have focused on the usage of non-precious metal in combination with specially designed supporting ligands using H2 or hydrosilane as a reducing agents.4 However, in majority of the cases, use of expensive metals, sensitive/toxic phosphine ligands, high catalyst loading, harsh reaction conditions (high temperature or high pressure of CO2/H2) are necessary which restrict the broad applicability of these systems. Further, it has been well-established that both the metal and ligand play an important role in improving the catalytic activity of a complex and along this line, use of an NHC ligand could be beneficial due to its strong -donating nature.5 Moreover, because of the low abundance, high cost, and toxicity of heavier transition metals, there has been a continuous urge for economical but effective base metal derived catalyst systems. In this research seminar, a thorough literature on various transition metal catalyzed reductive functionalization of CO2 with amines will be discussed in details along with some preliminary results as well as future plans in this area.

References:
1. Liu, Q.; Wu, L.; Jackstell, R.; Beller, M. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 5933.
2. (a) Aresta, M. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2010. (b) Gerack, C. J.; McElwee-White, L. Molecules 2014, 19, 7689. (c) Reddy, N. V.; Kumar, P. S.; Reddy, P. S.; Kantam, M. L.; Reddy, K. R. New J. Chem. 2015, 39, 805.
3. (a) Lam, R. H.; McQueen, C. M. A.; Pernik, I.; McBurney, R. T.; Hill, A. F.; Messerle, B. A. Green Chem. 2019, 21, 538. (b) Zhang, L.; Han, Z.; Zhao, X.; Wang, Z.; Ding, K. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 6186.
4. Jalwal, S.; Atreya, V.; Singh, T.; Chakraborty, S. Tetrahedron Lett. 2021, 82, 153362.
5. Hahn, F. E.; Jahnke, M. C. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 3122.