Efficient co-upcycling of glycerol and CO2 into valuable products enabled by a bifunctional Ru-complex catalyst
Glycerol and CO2 are largely produced as by-products in modern industry. Herein, three Ru complexes bearing air- and water-stable NHC-nitrogen-nitrogen ligands are designed as bifunctional catalysts to upcycle glycerol and CO2 simultaneously. Among them, Ru complex 2 featuring an N-H structure shows the highest efficiency with TONs up to 300 000 and 387 000 for formate and lactate, respectively. C-13 labelling experiments clearly manifest that formate is primarily derived from CO2. Furthermore, in situ FTIR spectra suggest that glyceraldehyde from glycerol might serve as a key intermediate to form lactate, while DFT calculations indicate that Ru complex 2 possesses the lowest reaction barriers and can form the Ru = N intermediate, contributing to its higher activity.
WOS:001326777800001
39356239
2024-09-25
60
84
12221
12224
REVIEWED
EPFL
Funder | Funding(s) | Grant Number | Grant URL |
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) | 22105133 | ||
Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province of China | 2023NSFSC1085;2022NSFSC0617;2023NSFSC0103 | ||
China Scholarship Council | |||
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