Recent Progress in Metal Catalyzed Direct Carboxylation of Aryl Halides and Pseudo Halides Employing CO₂: Opportunities for ¹¹C Radiochemistry

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a synthon in organic transformations is very useful, especially when combined with transition metal catalysts. CO₂ insertion on carbon(Aryl)-metal is are an elegant route to construct carbon–carbon bonds. A limited number of reports have been published to date on the direct conversion of aryl halides (or pseudo halides) to aryl carboxylic acids using transition metal catalysts. These reactions place great demand on the choice of catalyst, starting material, and reducing agent. However, these approaches could be of interest for the synthesis of a wide range of biologically active small molecules. Such transformations have already been applied for the synthesis of radiolabeled compounds for imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) using cyclotron produced [¹¹C]CO₂ and may be applicable to the production of a diverse range of PET tracers.