Synthetic Enzyme‐Catalyzed CO2 Fixation Reactions

In recent years, (de)carboxylases that catalyze reversible (de)carboxylation have been targeted for application as carboxylation catalysts. This has led to the development of proof‐of‐concept (bio)synthetic CO2 fixation routes for chemical production. However, further progress towards industrial application has been hampered by the thermodynamic constraint that accompanies fixing CO2 to organic molecules. In this Review, biocatalytic carboxylation methods are discussed with emphases on the diverse strategies devised to alleviate the inherent thermodynamic constraints and their application in synthetic CO2‐fixation cascades. The fix is in: This Review examines progress made in developing (de)carboxylases for application in organic synthesis for CO2 fixing reactions. It highlights the synthetic scope of promising (de)carboxylase enzymes and the numerous strategies devised to increase enzymatic carboxylation yield, including application of (de)carboxylases in synthetic cascades.