The Future of Carbon Dioxide Chemistry

Abstract

Dedicated to Prof. Michele Aresta on his 80 th anniversary The utilization of carbon dioxide as building block for chemicals or source of carbon for energy products has been explored for over 40 years now, with varying allure. In correspondence with oil-crises, the use of CO 2 has come into the spotlight, soon set aside when the crisis was over due to the low price of fossil carbon and the convenience of using established technologies. Nowadays, there is a continuous shift from fossil-C-based to perennial (solar, wind, geothermal, hydro-power) energy-driven processes that will also have a great potential to convert large amounts of carbon dioxide. The integration of biotechnology and catalysis will be a key player towards the utilization of CO 2 in several different applications, reducing both the extraction of fossil carbon and the carbon transfer to the atmosphere. * technological applications (Table 1, right side) * chemical processes, (Table 1, left side) * enhanced production of microalgae * bioelectrochemical systems * integrated chemo-and biotechnologies For a long time CO 2 has been extracted (at a cost of 13-20 US$ t À 1) from natural sites and used in the food industry (due to its purity), but also for less noble purposes such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Recovered CO 2 should be preferred to natural one in both applications. CO 2 is produced in industrial processes (Table 2) and, in some cases, can be recovered at lower cost than from power stations, because of the absence of NO x and SO y , or even directly used (fermentation processes). CCS has received substantial financial support during last 30 years, but as of today, only approximately 5 Mt y À 1 are stored in a hand of experimental fields, mainly for EOR. CCS requires energy that increases with the distance of the storage site from the source and the deepness of storage. An overall penalty of [a]

Bifunctional Rare‐Earth Metal Catalysts for Conversion of CO2 and Epoxides into Cyclic Carbonates

“…After heating at 40 °C for 18 h, the flask was cooled to ambient temperature, and disconnected with the balloon. The resulting mixture was analyzed by 1 H NMR spectroscopy in CDCl 3 to determine conversion and selectivity. All volatiles were removed in vacuo, and the residue was dissolved in diethyl ether (3 × 5 mL).…”

“…The efficient conversion of CO 2 into chemicals and materials has thus attracted intensive research. [1,2] One of the representative reactions is the cycloaddition of CO 2 and epoxides to form cyclic carbonates, [3][4][5][6] which can be used as aprotic polar solvents in chemical reactions and batteries, and as useful intermediates for organic and polymer synthesis. [7][8][9][10][11][12] Due to the inherent thermodynamic stability and chemical inertness of CO 2 , it is highly desirable to develop active catalysts to avoid high temperature and pressure.…”

A self-healing and recyclable poly(urea-imine) thermoset synthesized from CO2

“…In addition, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), as an abundant, cheap and renewable C 1 resource, has been studied in the field of sustainable and green chemistry. [2][3][4] In the past few years, many efforts have been made to transform CO 2 into polymers including polycarbonate, 5,6 polyurethane 7,8 and polyurea. [9][10][11] As important smart materials that can repair cracks and restore their comprehensive performance, self-healing polymer materials have received extensive attention in the past few years.…”

Advances in Palladium-Catalyzed Carboxylation Reactions

“…In fact, it allows converting an important waste (it is well known that carbon dioxide is produced in enormous amounts from the combustion of fossil fuels for the production of energy) into a variety of useful compounds, which can find application as fuels or in the pharmaceutical or material fields. Accordingly, many efforts have been devoted by the scientific community to develop novel efficient and sustainable carboxylation methods, in particular under catalytic conditions, during the last years [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ].…”