Homogeneous Hydrogenation of CO2 and CO to Methanol: The Renaissance of Low-Temperature Catalysis in the Context of the Methanol Economy

The traditional economy based on carbon-intensive fuels and materials has led to an exponential rise in anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. Outpacing the natural carbon cycle, atmospheric CO₂ levels increased by 50 % since the pre-industrial age and can be directly linked to global warming. Being at the core of the proposed methanol economy pioneered by the late George A. Olah, the chemical recycling of CO₂ to produce methanol, a green fuel and feedstock, is a prime channel to achieve carbon neutrality. In this direction, homogeneous catalytic systems have lately been a major focus for methanol synthesis from CO₂ , CO and their derivatives as potential low-temperature alternatives to the commercial processes. This Review provides an account of this rapidly growing field over the past decade, since its resurgence in 2011. Based on the critical assessment of the progress thus far, the present key challenges in this field have been highlighted and potential directions have been suggested for practically viable applications.

Metal center regulation of the porphyrin unit in covalent organic polymers for boosting the photocatalytic CO2 reduction activity

Regulating the porphyrin's metal center of metalloporphyrin(MPor)/Ru(ii)-pincer complex(RuN3) covalent organic polymers (COPs) effectively boosted the CO2 photoreduction by promoting charge separation and sacrificial electron donor oxidation.

Efficient CO2 reduction over a Ru-pincer complex/TiO2 hybrid photocatalyst via direct Z-scheme mechanism

Solar-driven CO2 conversion to hydrocarbon fuels is a feasible way to solve the increasingly serious energy problem and greenhouse effect. Herein, we fabricate a novel hybrid photocatalyst for CO2 reduction...

Formate-Bicarbonate Cycle as a Vehicle for Hydrogen and Energy Storage

In recent years, hydrogen has been considered a promising energy carrier for a sustainable energy economy in the future. An easy solution for the safer storage of hydrogen is challenging and efficient methods are still being explored in this direction. Despite having some progress in this area, no cost-effective and easily applicable solutions that fulfill the requirements of industry are yet to be claimed. Currently, the storage of hydrogen is largely limited to high-pressure compression and liquefaction or in the form of metal hydrides. Formic acid is a good source of hydrogen that also generates CO₂ along with hydrogen on decomposition. Moreover, the hydrogenation of CO₂ is thermodynamically unfavorable and requires high energy input. Alkali metal formates are alternative mild and noncorrosive sources of hydrogen. On decomposition, these metal formates release hydrogen and generate bicarbonates. The generated bicarbonates can be catalytically charged back to alkali formates under optimized hydrogen pressure. Hence, the formate-bicarbonate-based systems being carbon neutral at ambient condition has certain advantages over formic acid. The formate-bicarbonate cycle can be considered as a vehicle for hydrogen and energy storage. The whole process is carbon-neutral, reversible, and sustainable. This Review emphasizes the various catalytic systems employed for reversible formate-bicarbonate conversion. Moreover, a mechanistic investigation, the effect of temperature, pH, kinetics of reversible formate-bicarbonate conversion, and new insights in the field are also discussed in detail.

Recent Progress with Pincer Transition Metal Catalysts for Sustainability

Our planet urgently needs sustainable solutions to alleviate the anthropogenic global warming and climate change. Homogeneous catalysis has the potential to play a fundamental role in this process, providing novel, efficient, and at the same time eco-friendly routes for both chemicals and energy production. In particular, pincer-type ligation shows promising properties in terms of long-term stability and selectivity, as well as allowing for mild reaction conditions and low catalyst loading. Indeed, pincer complexes have been applied to a plethora of sustainable chemical processes, such as hydrogen release, CO2 capture and conversion, N2 fixation, and biomass valorization for the synthesis of high-value chemicals and fuels. In this work, we show the main advances of the last five years in the use of pincer transition metal complexes in key catalytic processes aiming for a more sustainable chemical and energy production.

Integrated CO2 Capture and Conversion to Formate and Methanol: Connecting Two Threads

The capture of CO₂ from concentrated emission sources as well as from air represents a process of paramount importance in view of the increasing CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere and its associated negative consequences on the biosphere. Once captured using various technologies, CO₂ is desorbed and compressed for either storage (carbon capture and storage (CCS)) or production of value-added products (carbon capture and utilization (CCU)). Among various products that can be synthesized from CO₂, methanol and formic acid are of high interest because they can be used directly as fuels or to generate H₂ on demand at low temperatures (<100 °C), making them attractive hydrogen carriers (12.6 and 4.4 wt % H₂ in methanol and formic acid, respectively). Methanol is already produced in huge quantities worldwide (100 billion liters annually) and is also a raw material for many chemicals and products, including formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, light olefins, and gasoline. The production of methanol through chemical recycling of captured CO₂ is at the heart of the so-called "methanol economy" that we have proposed with the late Prof. George Olah at our Institute. Recently, there has been significant progress in the low-temperature synthesis of formic acid (or formate salts) and methanol from CO₂ and H₂ using homogeneous catalysts. Importantly, several studies have combined CO₂ capture and hydrogenation, where captured CO₂ (including from air) was directly utilized to produce formate and CH₃OH without requiring energy intensive desorption and compression steps. This Account centers on that topic. A key feature in the combined CO₂ capture and conversion studies reported to date for the synthesis of formic acid and methanol is the use of an amine or alkali-metal hydroxide base for capturing CO₂, which can assist the homogeneous catalysts in the hydrogenation step. We start this Account by examining the combined processes where CO₂ is captured in amine solutions and converted to alkylammonium formate salts. The effect of amine basicity on the reaction rate is discussed along with catalyst recycling schemes. Next, methanol synthesis by this combined process, with amines as capturing agents, is explored. We also examine the system developments for effective catalyst and amine recycling in this process. We next go through the effect of catalyst molecular structure on methanol production while elucidating the main deactivating pathway involving carbonylation of the metal center. The recent advances in first-row transition metal catalysts for this process are also mentioned. Subsequently, we discuss the capture of CO₂ using hydroxide bases and conversion to formate salts. The regeneration of the hydroxide base (NaOH or KOH) at low temperatures (80 °C) in cation-conducting direct formate fuel cells is presented. Finally, we review the challenges in the yet unreported integrated CO₂ capture by hydroxide bases and conversion to methanol process.

Computational prediction of pentadentate iron and cobalt complexes as a mimic of mono-iron hydrogenase for the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol

A series of amidate-ligated pentadentate iron and cobalt complexes with N-heterocyclic pyridinol groups were proposed and computationally screened as potential catalysts for CO₂ reduction. Density functional theory calculations reveal a ligand assisted heterolytic H₂ cleavage mechanism with a total free energy barrier of 23.3 kcal mol^-1 for the hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol catalysed by a pentadentate Co complex with a 2-[bis(pyridine-2-ylmethyl)]amino-N-3,9-purin-2-one ligand.

A Carbon-Neutral CO2 Capture, Conversion, and Utilization Cycle with Low-Temperature Regeneration of Sodium Hydroxide

A highly efficient recyclable system for capture and subsequent conversion of CO₂ to formate salts is reported that utilizes aqueous inorganic hydroxide solutions for CO₂ capture along with homogeneous pincer catalysts for hydrogenation. The produced aqueous solutions of formate salts are directly utilized, without any purification, in a direct formate fuel cell to produce electricity and regenerate the hydroxide base, achieving an overall carbon-neutral cycle. The catalysts and organic solvent are recycled by employing a biphasic solvent system (2-MTHF/H₂O) with no significant decrease in turnover frequency (TOF) over five cycles. Among different hydroxides, NaOH and KOH performed best in tandem CO₂ capture and conversion due to their rapid rate of capture, high formate conversion yield, and high catalytic TOF to their corresponding formate salts. Among various catalysts, Ru- and Fe-based PNP complexes were the most active for hydrogenation. The extremely low vapor pressure, nontoxic nature, easy regenerability, and high reactivity of NaOH/KOH toward CO₂ make them ideal for scrubbing CO₂ even from low-concentration sources-such as ambient air-and converting it to value-added products.

Changing the Mechanism for CO2 Hydrogenation Using Solvent-Dependent Thermodynamics

A critical scientific challenge for utilization of CO₂ is the development of catalyst systems that function in water and use inexpensive and environmentally friendly reagents. We have used thermodynamic insights to predict and demonstrate that the HCo^I (dmpe)₂ catalyst system, previously described for use in organic solvents, can hydrogenate CO₂ to formate in water with bicarbonate as the only added reagent. Replacing tetrahydrofuran as the solvent with water changes the mechanism for catalysis by altering the thermodynamics for hydride transfer to CO₂ from a key dihydride intermediate. The need for a strong organic base was eliminated by performing catalysis in water owing to the change in mechanism. These studies demonstrate that the solvent plays a pivotal role in determining the reaction thermodynamics and thereby catalytic mechanism and activity.