{"title":"Computational Design of an Electro-Organocatalyst for Conversion of CO2 into Long Chain Aldehydes","authors":"Foroogh Khezeli, and , Craig Plaisance*, ","doi":"10.1021/acs.jpca.4c00780","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p >Density functional theory calculations employing a hybrid implicit/explicit solvation method were used to demonstrate that an electro-organocatalyst designed in our previous work for reducing CO<sub>2</sub> to formaldehyde could also be capable of coupling formaldehyde to form long chain aldehydes. The catalytic activity is enabled by an electron-rich vicinal enediamine (>N–C═C–N<) backbone that activates formaldehyde by reversing the polarity on the carbon atom, enabling it to act as a nucleophile in the subsequent aldol addition step. The catalyst then enables reductive dehydroxylation of the aldol addition product by facilitating outer-sphere electron transfer. The optimal pH as well as the limiting potential and formaldehyde concentration are identified and related to the kinetic balance between several rate limiting steps. Finally, the optimal conditions for coupling with the CO<sub>2</sub> reduction cycle are discussed, demonstrating that the electro-organocatalyst is capable of efficiently converting CO<sub>2</sub> into aldehyde products with a turnover frequency (per carbon atom) on the order of 0.1–1 s<sup>–1</sup>.</p>","PeriodicalId":59,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Physical Chemistry A","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acs.jpca.4c00780","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Journal of Physical Chemistry A","FirstCategoryId":"1","ListUrlMain":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpca.4c00780","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Density functional theory calculations employing a hybrid implicit/explicit solvation method were used to demonstrate that an electro-organocatalyst designed in our previous work for reducing CO2 to formaldehyde could also be capable of coupling formaldehyde to form long chain aldehydes. The catalytic activity is enabled by an electron-rich vicinal enediamine (>N–C═C–N<) backbone that activates formaldehyde by reversing the polarity on the carbon atom, enabling it to act as a nucleophile in the subsequent aldol addition step. The catalyst then enables reductive dehydroxylation of the aldol addition product by facilitating outer-sphere electron transfer. The optimal pH as well as the limiting potential and formaldehyde concentration are identified and related to the kinetic balance between several rate limiting steps. Finally, the optimal conditions for coupling with the CO2 reduction cycle are discussed, demonstrating that the electro-organocatalyst is capable of efficiently converting CO2 into aldehyde products with a turnover frequency (per carbon atom) on the order of 0.1–1 s–1.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Physical Chemistry A is devoted to reporting new and original experimental and theoretical basic research of interest to physical chemists, biophysical chemists, and chemical physicists.