Three-component coupling of CO2, propargyl alcohols, and amines: An environmentally benign access to cyclic and acyclic carbamates (A Review)

Carbamates are key intermediates in the synthesis of a variety of pharmaceutically important compounds and fine chemicals. Moreover, they have been widely applied as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric transformations. Consequently, much efforts have been devoted to the design and synthesis of these compounds. Synthesis of titled compounds utilizing carbon dioxide as a feedstock is more attractive in comparison to other processes, because CO2 is an abundant, cheap, green, nontoxic, non-flammable, and renewable C1 resource. In this mini review, we highlight the advances in synthesis of cyclic and acyclic carbamates through three-component coupling of CO2, amines and propargyl alcohols from 1987 to 2017.