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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Catalytic reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia at a single molybdenum center
Walter W Weare1, Xuliang Dai, Matthew J Byrnes
1Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Abstract:
Since our discovery of the catalytic reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia at a single molybdenum center, we have embarked on a variety of studies designed to further understand this complex reaction cycle. These include studies of both individual reaction steps and of ligand variations. An important step in the reaction sequence is exchange of ammonia for dinitrogen in neutral molybdenum(III) compounds. We have found that this exchange reaction is first order in dinitrogen and relatively fast (complete in <1 h) at 1 atm of dinitrogen. Variations of the terphenyl substituents in the triamidoamine ligand demonstrate that the original ligand is not unique in its ability to yield successful catalysts. However, complexes that contain sterically less demanding ligands fail to catalyze formation of ammonia from dinitrogen; it is proposed as a consequence of a base-catalyzed decomposition of a diazenido (Mo-N=NH) intermediate.
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