A Copper(II) Molecular Catalyst for Efficient and Selective Photochemical Reduction of CO2 to CO in a Water-Containing System

Wen-Ju Liu; Hai-Hua Huang; Ting Ouyang; Long Jiang; Di-Chang Zhong; Wen Zhang; Tong-Bu Lu

doi:10.1002/chem.201705566

A Copper(II) Molecular Catalyst for Efficient and Selective Photochemical Reduction of CO₂ to CO in a Water-Containing System

Chemistry. 2018 Mar 26;24(18):4503-4508. doi: 10.1002/chem.201705566. Epub 2018 Feb 5.

Authors

Wen-Ju Liu¹, Hai-Hua Huang¹, Ting Ouyang¹, Long Jiang¹, Di-Chang Zhong^{2

3}, Wen Zhang³, Tong-Bu Lu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 135, Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou, 510275, P. R. China.
² School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou, 341000, China.
³ Institute of New Energy Materials & Low Carbon Technology, School of Material Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, No. 391, Binshuixi Road, Tianjin, 300384, China.

PMID: 29322569
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201705566

Abstract

A catalyst developed from a Cu^II complex of (Et₄ N)[Cu(pyN₂^Me2 )(HCO₂ )]⋅0.5 CH₃ OH⋅H₂ O (1⋅0.5 CH₃ OH⋅H₂ O; pyN₂^Me2 =bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-2,6-pyridinedicarboxamidate(2-)) shows a high activity to catalyze the reduction reaction of CO₂ to CO driven by visible light in 4:1 acetonitrile/water (v:v) using [Ru(phen)₃ ](PF₆ )₂ as photosensitizer and TEOA as sacrificial reductant, with a high TON of 9900 and a high CO selectivity of 98 %. The results of isotope labeling experiment, durability tests and energy dispersive spectroscopy reveal that 1 is robust during the photocatalytic process.

Keywords: CO2 reduction; copper complex; homogeneous catalysis; photocatalysis; water-containing system.