Activation of carbon dioxide mediated by organometallic complexes derived from earth-abundant metals

Abstract

The formation of carbonates through the reaction between carbon dioxide and an epoxide is a process that has attracted special attention because it allows the use of a gas that is present in moderate concentrations in the atmosphere to transform it into useful raw materials for the industry. However, under standard conditions, this reaction does not take place and requires the presence of a catalyst. Until today, this catalytic process has been carried out using catalysts based on noble metals as the metallic centre. In the last decade, the need to replace these metals due to their toxicity and the environmental impact they generate has led to the search for more sustainable alternatives with promising results comparable to the noble metal catalysts. The optimal reaction conditions, such as time, temperature, CO2 pressure and the potential need for a co-catalyst to improve the catalyst’s activity will be studied for eight 3-d metals from the first-raw. Additionally, the type of catalyst and ligand nature involved in this transformation will be evaluated for each metal to determine which shows best results