Nickel catalysis for advanced synthetic strategies and carbon dioxide valorisation

The kernel of this PhD thesis is the development of new synthetic methodologies involving homogeneous nickel catalysis. The final applicative outlet of these studies has been the shifting of known paradigms in CO2 valorisation as C1 synthon and the preparation of highly valuable trifluoromethylated compounds. The projects relative to CO2 chemistry illustrated herein should open a new sight about the feasible strategic routes for introducing the CO moiety directly from CO2 for the synthesis of elaborated organic scaffolds. The developed works accounts for the preparations of ketones, lactams and lactones as representative functional groups, thus also proving the great capabilities of the catalytic platform. Nickel catalysis has also been successfully applied in the preparation of α-aryl-α-trifluoromethyl alcohols, present in approved fluorinated drugs. This latter methodology introduces for the first time the paradigms of cross electrophile couplings as innovative tools to prepare the targeted entities. Moreover, the employed N-trifluoroethoxyphtalimide is an undoubtedly advantageous surrogate of hazardous trifluoroacetaldehyde, thus posing the developed methodology on a completely new level of safety standards.