It is the first time to report the carbonylation of cyclohexene with carbon dioxide under ambient conditions irradiated at single wavelength visible light.The effects of catalysts, the additives and different wavelength have been investigated, which indicated that the metal complexes such as CoTPP and MnTPP acted as catalyst of the carbonylation as well as sensitizer under the irradiation of special wavelength visible light. Furthermore, when adding sodium proponiate to the solution, the catalysts such as PCFe would be activated and the formation of ester was promoted obviously. We also detected the quantum yield of this reaction, and found it can reach to 10-2. As far as the quantum yield and taking good advantage of the energy from solar was concerned. HSO3PCCo was the better catalyst for the carbonylation.
