Boron, silicon and phosphorus catalysts for the catalytic reduction of CO2

Thibault Cantat (1)

1 LCMCE - Laboratoire de Chimie Moléculaire et de Catalyse pour l'Energie (ex LCCEF)

Carbon dioxide is an abundant, inexpensive, low toxic and renewable carbon feedstock and therefore an appealing C1-building block in organic chemistry. The efficient reduction of CO2 to important raw materials for the chemical industry or to value-added chemicals is however hampered by its high thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness.[1] This drawback calls for efficient reduction catalysts able to synchronize C–O bond cleavage with C–H and C–C bond formation, at a high kinetic rate and with a low energy demand. While CO2 activation and reduction at a metal center has been thoroughly investigated over the last four decades, organic systems able to perform this task, based on main group elements (e.g. B, N, O, P, Si), remain sporadic and underexplored.[2] We have recently prepared novel N/B and N/Si+ Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) that show efficient catalytic activities in the reduction of CO2 using hydroboranes.[3] Experimental and computational (DFT) studies unveil the influence and role of FLP-CO2 adducts in the catalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol. These insights have led to the efficient design of an efficient metal-free method to convert amines to methylamines, in a single step from CO2.[4]

Domaines: Matériaux

Thibault Cantat. Boron, silicon and phosphorus catalysts for the catalytic reduction of CO2. 251th ACS meeting, Mar 2016, San Diego, United States. ⟨cea-02351450⟩