ITQB NOVA chemists from Beatriz Royo Lab, in collaboration with researchers from Institute of Chemical Research in Catalonia, Spain, have developed a highly selective catalyst capable to reduce carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, to carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide can subsequently be used to develop useful chemicals. The results were just published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Large-scale production of value-added chemicals and fuels using renewable energy and carbon dioxide as feedstock is a major challenge in sustainable chemical research. Electrochemical reduction of CO 2 has been regarded as a very interesting tool to convert atmospheric CO 2 into commodity products. In this work, researchers have developed a new family of manganese complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbenes capable to perform electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to CO with remarkable activity and productivity, exceeding the values reported so far for other manganese-based catalysts. Interestingly, they have been able to detect the active species operating in this process.