Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is not only a greenhouse gas but also an inexpensive, readily available and renewable carbon resource. It is very important to utilize such a one-carbon (C1) building block in organic synthesis to construct valuable compounds. However, it is very challenging due to its thermodynamic and kinetic stability and inertness. Although significant progress has been achieved, there are lots of limitations in reaction system and substrate scope in this field.

Our group has been mainly focusing on CO₂ utilization in organic synthesis. We have developed the direct use of CO₂ as the combination of CO and oxidant (“CO₂ = CO + [O]”) to realize the redox-neutral carbonylation of C─H bonds. Moreover, we have disclosed the radical-type difunctionalization of alkenes and (hetero)arenes with CO₂ to synthesize 2-oxazolidones and carboxylic acids. Based on Umpolung strategy, we have realized novel carboxylation of hydrazones, imines, enamides and tetraalkylammonium salts via selective C-N bond cleavage. We realized the first copper-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective reductive hydroxymethylation with CO₂ to form chiral high alcohols, including those with tertiary carbon stereocenters. Inspired by the iron-sulfur world in nature, we have realized the visible light-driven thiocarboxylation of alkenes with CO₂ with catalytic iron salts as promoters, which could be able to reduce CO₂ to its radial anion. We hope these efforts will provide new methods for efficient CO₂ utilization in organic synthesis.