Chelated [Zn(cyclam)]2+ Lewis acid improves the reactivity of the electrochemical reduction of CO2 by Mn catalysts with bulky bipyridine ligands

Almagul Zhanaidarova; Han Steger; Mark H Reineke; Clifford P Kubiak

doi:10.1039/c7dt02620j

Chelated [Zn(cyclam)]²⁺ Lewis acid improves the reactivity of the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ by Mn catalysts with bulky bipyridine ligands

Dalton Trans. 2017 Sep 26;46(37):12413-12416. doi: 10.1039/c7dt02620j.

Authors

Almagul Zhanaidarova¹, Han Steger, Mark H Reineke, Clifford P Kubiak

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive MC 0358, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ckubiak@ucsd.edu.

PMID: 28848980
DOI: 10.1039/c7dt02620j

Abstract

This communication reports the use of a soluble Lewis acid complex, [Zn(cyclam)]²⁺ (cyclam = 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane) as a co-catalyst coupled with Mn(Mesbpy)(CO)₃Br (Mesbpy = 6,6'-dimesityl-2,2'-bipyridine) for the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to CO. Utilization of the soluble chelated Lewis acid avoids the use of sacrificial additives and prevents the formation of insoluble products such as MgCO₃ or ZnCO₃ that change the thermodynamics of CO₂ reduction. The use of soluble Lewis acids greatly improves catalysis compared to previously reported systems that used sacrificial anodes.