Bio-inspired Carbon Dioxide Activation on Heterobimetallic Complexes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ulf-Peter Apfel
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation ; Biological and Biomimetic Chemistry
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 256826550

The efficient activation and direct conversion of CO2 into CO, acetic acid, or methanol is a current challenge and a need of modern society. If CO2 could be selectively converted into these molecules, the current feedstock of modern chemistry could be entirely changed from oil to CO2. The use of the greenhouse gas CO2, as opposed to oil, would result in a decrease of this pollutant in our atmosphere. In addition, combustion of generated fuels would lead to an environmentally neutral balance of the CO2 level in air and is therefore a highly desirable venture. Recent catalysts solely provide the possibility to transform CO2 by a stepwise reduction to CO. This reduction intermediate, CO2 radical anion, leads to numerous side products and only a few catalysts are known that bypass this reactive intermediate. This radical, however, has to be avoided to afford a catalyst with high turnover numbers (TON) and high selectivity in product formation. The project aims at the generation of novel bio-inspired bimetallic metal complexes that can activate CO2 and allow reduction to CO.

• DFG Programme: Independent Junior Research Groups
• Major Instrumentation: Mossbauer
• Instrumentation Group: 0800 Mössbauer-Meßplätze