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Over the last decades, given the urge for solutions to control climate change, chemists have been challenged to reduce CO₂ emissions. CO₂ is a major greenhouse gas that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Increased CO₂ levels cause global temperatures to rise, leading to more extreme weather events, threatening habitats, endangering species, and causing ecosystem imbalances. Higher CO₂ levels also cause ocean acidification and poor air quality, and therefore increase the cases of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Although the incorporation of CO₂ into organic molecules alone will not solve the CO₂ emissions problem, the use of this non-toxic and abundant feedstock appears as a promising alternative to other toxic and/or corrosive C1 building blocks traditionally used in organic synthesis (e.g. cyanide, CO, and phosgene). CO₂ is acknowledged as being highly thermodynamic and kinetically stable. However, with the aid of catalysis, it can be used as a building block in the synthesis of organic compounds, transforming it from a waste product into valuable materials. Examples include:
Carbonates and Polycarbonates: CO₂ can react with alkenes and epoxides to produce cyclic carbonates or polycarbonates, which are used in plastics, coatings, and adhesives.
Urea Synthesis: CO₂ is a key reagent in the production of urea, an important fertilizer.
Formic Acid and Methanol: CO₂ can be reduced to formic acid or methanol, which are valuable as fuels and chemical intermediates.
Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals: CO₂ can serve as a carbon source for synthesizing active pharmaceutical ingredients and specialty chemicals.
Recently, the development of photocatalytic CO₂ incorporation protocols have been gaining more attention. Such an approach is promising and formidable because the possibility of using visible-light (or even sunlight) to promote carbon capture and utilization mimics the photosynthesis process. Some of those strategies are summarized below:
What we want to do:
Develop new strategies for CO₂ incorporation, focusing mostly on CO₂ trapping and cyclization, as well as couplings involving the formate radical generation. Opportunely, carbonylation protocols will also be investigated.
References:
Visible-Light-Driven Catalytic Reductive Carboxylation with CO2. ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 10871−10885
Photoredox Catalysis as a Strategy for CO2 Incorporation: Direct Access to Carboxylic Acids from a Renewable Feedstock. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 5492 – 5502
Recent Progress in Photocatalytic Chemical Fixation of Carbon Dioxide. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2023, 11, 12194-12217