Away from phosgene: reductive carbonylation of nitroarenes and oxidative carbonylation of amines, understanding the mechanism to improve performance.
Recent progress, with some emphasis on the author's own work, on the understanding of the mechanism of the reductive carbonylation of nitroarenes and of the oxidative carbonylation of amines is discussed, highlighting the close connection between the two reactions and trying to unify scattered data in the literature. Isocyanates, carbamates and ureas can be obtained by either procedure, without the need for the use of the toxic and corrosive phosgene.
Ragaini
Fabio
F
Dipartimento di Chimica Inorganica, Metallorganica e Analitica Lamberto Malatesta and ISTM-CNR, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Venezian 21, 20133 Milano, Italy. fabio.ragaini@unimi.it