Nickel(II) Complexes of Tripodal Ligands as Catalysts for Fixation of Atmospheric CO2 as Organic Carbonates

The fixation of atmospheric CO2 into value-added products is a promising methodology. A series of novel nickel(II) complexes of the type [Ni(L)(CH3CN)(2)](BPh4)(2) 1-5, where L=N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-N ', N '-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine (L1), N,N-dimethyl-N '-(2-(pyridin-2-yl)ethyl)-N '-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl) propane-1,3-diamine (L2), N,N-bis((4-methoxy-3,5-dimethylpyridin-2-ylmethyl)-N ',N '-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine (L3), N-(2-(dimethylamino) benzyl)-N ',N '-dimethyl-N-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl) propane-1,3-diamine (L4) and N,N-bis(2-(dimethylamino)benzyl)-N ', N '-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine (L5) have been synthesized and characterized as the catalysts for the conversion of atmospheric CO2 into organic cyclic carbonates. The single-crystal X-ray structure of 2 was determined and exhibited distorted octahedral coordination geometry with cis-alpha configuration. The complexes have been used as a catalyst for converting CO2 and epoxides into five-membered cyclic carbonates under 1 atmospheric (atm) pressure at room temperature in the presence of Bu4NBr. The catalyst containing electron-releasing -Me and -OMe groups afforded the maximum yield of cyclic carbonates, 34% (TON, 680) under 1 atm air. It was drastically enhanced to 89% (TON, 1780) under pure CO2 gas at 1 atm. It is the highest catalytic efficiency known for CO2 fixation using nickel-based catalysts at room temperature and 1 atm pressure. The electronic and steric factors of the ligands strongly influence the catalytic efficiency. Furthermore, all the catalysts can convert a wide range of epoxides (ten examples) into corresponding cyclic carbonate with excellent selectivity (>99%) under this mild condition.

Automated summary

Novel nickel(II) complexes have been synthesized and shown to catalyze the conversion of atmospheric CO2 into organic cyclic carbonates. These complexes exhibit high catalytic efficiency at room temperature and 1 atm pressure, and can selectively convert a wide range of epoxides into cyclic carbonates.