Abstract
Carbon monoxide (CO) has become one of the most relevant and versatile
renewable C1 building blocks for chemical synthesis, especially in the
fine chemicals industry, due to the development of efficient and
selective catalysts for its activation. In this review, we present a
comprehensive critical analysis of the last 10 years literature on the
use of CO as a renewable feedstock for fine chemicals production. The
review is organized by type of catalytic reaction, namely alkene and
alkyne carbonylation, hydroformylation, carbonylation of aryl halides,
carbonylative cross-coupling and C–H carbonylation. Notable examples of
the synthesis of relevant building blocks and/or known pharmaceuticals
are highlighted. Emphasis is placed on examples of utilizing CO as the
C1 building block in one or more catalytic steps. The catalyst used and
the reaction conditions are consistently presented throughout all of the
examples.