Conversion of CO2 from Air into Methanol Using a Polyamine and a Homogeneous Ruthenium Catalyst

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b12354
 
Conversion of CO2 from Air into Methanol Using a Polyamine and a Homogeneous Ruthenium Catalyst
Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, Alain Goeppert, Miklos Czaun, G. K. Surya Prakash, and George A Olah
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Just Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b12354
Publication Date (Web): December 29, 2015
Copyright © 2015 American Chemical Society

Abstract: A highly efficient homogeneous catalyst system for the continuous production of CH3OH from CO2 using PEHA and Ru-Macho-BH (1) at 125-165 °C in an ethereal solvent has been developed (initial TOF = 70 h-1 at 145 °C). Ease of separation of CH3OH is demonstrated by simple distillation from the reaction mixture. The robustness of the catalytic system was shown by recycling the catalyst over 5 runs without significant loss of activity (TON>2000 h-1). Various sources of CO2 can be used for this reaction including the air, despite its low CO2 concentration (400 ppm). For the first time, we have demonstrated that CO2 captured from air can be directly converted to CH3OH in 79% yield using the homogeneous catalytic system.