Highly Efficient Electrosynthesis of Glycine over an Atomically Dispersed Iron Catalyst

Yingying Cheng; Shiqiang Liu; Jiapeng Jiao; Meng Zhou; Yiyong Wang; Xueqing Xing; Zhongjun Chen; Xiaofu Sun; Qinggong Zhu; Qingli Qian; Congyang Wang; Huizhen Liu; Zhimin Liu; Xinchen Kang; Buxing Han

doi:10.1021/jacs.4c01093

Highly Efficient Electrosynthesis of Glycine over an Atomically Dispersed Iron Catalyst

J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Apr 10;146(14):10084-10092. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c01093. Epub 2024 Mar 26.

Authors

Yingying Cheng¹, Shiqiang Liu¹, Jiapeng Jiao², Meng Zhou¹, Yiyong Wang^{1

3}, Xueqing Xing⁴, Zhongjun Chen⁴, Xiaofu Sun^{1

3}, Qinggong Zhu^{1

3}, Qingli Qian^{1

3}, Congyang Wang^{1

3}, Huizhen Liu^{1

3}, Zhimin Liu^{1

3}, Xinchen Kang^{1

3}, Buxing Han^{1

3

2}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, CAS Research/Education Centre for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Centre for Carbon Neutral Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
² Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Molecular & Process Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
³ School of Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

PMID: 38530325
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c01093

Abstract

Glycine is a nonessential amino acid that plays a vital role in various biological activities. However, the conventional synthesis of glycine requires sophisticated procedures or toxic feedstocks. Herein, we report an electrochemical pathway for glycine synthesis via the reductive coupling of oxalic acid and nitrate or nitrogen oxides over atomically dispersed Fe-N-C catalysts. A glycine selectivity of 70.7% is achieved over Fe-N-C-700 at -1.0 V versus RHE. Synergy between the FeN₃C structure and pyrrolic nitrogen in Fe-N-C-700 facilitates the reduction of oxalic acid to glyoxylic acid, which is crucial for producing glyoxylic acid oxime and glycine, and the FeN₃C structure could reduce the energy barrier of *HOOCCH₂NH₂ intermediate formation thus accelerating the glyoxylic acid oxime conversion to glycine. This new synthesis approach for value-added chemicals using simple carbon and nitrogen sources could provide sustainable routes for organonitrogen compound production.