Catalitic chemical fixation of CO2 through syntehsis of acrylic monomers

The effects of CO2 emissions on global climate are well known and studied problems. Many ways of limiting such emissions have been suggested, from the injection in exhausted oil fields, to the chemical fixation of carbon dioxide in more stable forms. Among the several routes proposed, the use of carbon dioxide as a raw material in the green synthesis of strategic chemicals has gained a great interest. From an industrial point of view, an interesting target is represented by the synthesis of acrylate using CO2 and ethene. Several transition-metals have been showed catalytic activity in such reaction in particular under controlled basic conditions. As in the literature it is reported that the reaction of CO2 with ethene to acrylates is catalyzed by Ni(0)-phosphine complexes, in the present work we have been studied the catalytic activity of a series of Ni(II) and Pd(II) diphosphine-complexes.