Tetrameric self-assembling of water-lean solvents enables carbamate anhydride-based CO₂ capture chemistry

Carbon capture, utilization and storage is a key yet cost-intensive technology for the fight against climate change. Single-component water-lean solvents have emerged as promising materials for post-combustion CO₂ capture, but little is known regarding their mechanism of action. Here we present a combined experimental and modelling study of single-component water-lean solvents, and we find that CO₂ capture is accompanied by the self-assembly of reverse-micelle-like tetrameric clusters in solution. This spontaneous aggregation leads to stepwise cooperative capture phenomena with highly contrasting mechanistic and thermodynamic features. The emergence of well-defined supramolecular architectures displaying a hydrogen-bonded internal core, reminiscent of enzymatic active sites, enables the formation of CO₂-containing molecular species such as carbamic acid, carbamic anhydride and alkoxy carbamic anhydrides. This system extends the scope of adducts and mechanisms observed during carbon capture. It opens the way to materials with a higher CO₂ storage capacity and provides a means for carbamates to potentially act as initiators for future oligomerization or polymerization of CO₂.