Homogeneous Catalysis for the Conversion of CO₂, CO, CH₃OH, and CH₄ to C₂₊ Chemicals via C-C Bond Formation

In the past few decades, the advances of CO₂ reduction have been mostly focused on the synthesis of C₁ products, such as CO, formic acid, methanol, and methane. However, the syntheses of C₂₊ products from generally abundant C₁ sources such as CO₂, CO, and CH₄ are traditionally more difficult because they involve two selective processes: activation of the C₁ source and simultaneous C-C bond formation. Recent advances in organometallic chemistry and catalysis provide effective means for the chemical transformation of C₁ sources to higher-energy C₂₊ products under mild conditions. Moreover, the recent expansion of these mechanistically different methods has enabled the use of various C₁ sources to undergo either homocoupling or heterocoupling via C-C bond formation to generate various C₂₊ products. In this review, we systematically present the various advances in C₁ to C₂₊ conversions under homogeneous catalysis.