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Updated: May 2, 2026
Versatile CO2 Transformations into Complex Products: A One-pot Two-step Strategy
Published on: November 9, 2019
Ruthenium-catalyzed reduction of carbon dioxide to formaldehyde
Sébastien Bontemps1, Laure Vendier, Sylviane Sabo-Etienne
1CNRS, LCC (Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination), 205 route de Narbonne, BP 44099, F-31077 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.
Abstract:
Functionalization of CO2 is a challenging goal and precedents exist for the generation of HCOOH, CO, CH3OH, and CH4 in mild conditions. In this series, CH2O, a very reactive molecule, remains an elementary C1 building block to be observed. Herein we report the direct observation of free formaldehyde from the borane reduction of CO2 catalyzed by a polyhydride ruthenium complex. Guided by mechanistic studies, we disclose the selective trapping of formaldehyde by in situ condensation with a primary amine into the corresponding imine in very mild conditions. Subsequent hydrolysis into amine and a formalin solution demonstrates for the first time that CO2 can be used as a C1 feedstock to produce formaldehyde.
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