Love at second sight for CO2 and H2

  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/350/6261/629.summary

 

Science 6 November 2015:
Vol. 350 no. 6261 pp. 629-630
DOI: 10.1126/science.aac7997

Love at second sight for CO₂ and H₂ in organic synthesis

1. Jürgen Klankermayer,
2. Walter Leitner

+ Author Affiliations

1. Institut für Technische und Makromolekulare Chemie, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.

1. E-mail: jklankermayer@itmc.rwth-aachen.de; leitner@itmc.rwth-aachen.de

Many romantic comedies are based on a couple with opposite personalities who fall in love, lose track of each other, and reunite against all odds, most often with the help of a mediator. This cinematic scenario recaps the recent progress in bringing together two molecular actors, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrogen (H₂), with the help of homogeneous catalysts in solution. Of the pair, CO₂ is the reluctant partner; it is thermodynamically very stable and kinetically inert in typical organic syntheses. However, an energetic partner such as H₂ can bring out its reactivity if their combination is properly directed. Organometallic catalysts have recently opened new possibilities to merge this odd couple of CO₂ and H₂ and, with the support of helpful in-laws (co-reactants), to establish synthetic methods for sustainable chemical processes across the chemical value chain.