Electrocatalytic and Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 to Methanol using Ruthenium Complexes with Internal Pyridyl CoCatalysts

Abstract

The ruthenium complex, Ruβ, acts as electro- or photocatalyst for the reduction of CO2 to deep reduction products such as methanol or formaldehyde. The complex incorporates two functional components, a ruthenium(II) polypyridyl chromophore and a pendant pyridyl function on the lowest-energy acceptor ligand. The latter component is proposed as the essential component for formation of a carbamate radical adduct which is reduced in subsequent electrochemical or photochemical cycles to formate, formaldehyde, or methanol.