Chemical transformation of carbon dioxide: Copper diphosphine complexes as catalysts for hydrosilylation

Since carbon dioxide (CO₂) is an abundant carbon source, the catalytic transformation of CO₂ into valuable chemicals is one of the most important technologies to achieve a sustainable society.

However, the transformation of CO₂ is difficult due to its high stability.

Now, Ken Motokura, Toshihide Baba, and colleagues at Department of Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology have found that Cu-diphosphine complexes can be highly active catalysts for hydrosilylation of CO₂ to silyl formate, which is potentially a useful compound for further transformation into fine chemicals.

The catalytic reaction procedure is as follows: a Cu source, diphosphine ligand, hydrosilane, and 1,4-dioxane solvent were placed into a glass reactor equipped with balloon under one atmosphere of CO₂, and the resulting mixture was vigorously stirred at 60℃.

The turnover number (TON) and turnover frequency (TOF) of the Cu catalyst reached a maximum of 70000 and 10300 h^-1, respectively, with 1,2-bis(diisopropylphosphino) benzene as a ligand.

These TON and TOF values are more than one-order of magnitude higher than those of previously reported catalysts for hydrosilylation of CO₂.

Hydrosilylation of CO₂ catalyzed by Cu-diphosphine complex.

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