Ni-catalyzed direct carboxylation of benzyl halides with CO2

A novel Ni-catalyzed carboxylation of benzyl halides with CO₂ has been developed. The described carboxylation reaction proceeds under mild conditions (atmospheric CO₂ pressure) at room temperature. Unlike other routes for similar means, our method does not require well-defined and sensitive organometallic reagents and thus is a user-friendly and operationally simple protocol for assembling phenylacetic acids.