Photochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol and formate in a homogeneous system with pyridinium catalysts.

Photochemical catalytic CO2 reduction to formate and methanol has been demonstrated in an aqueous homogeneous system at pH 5.0 comprising ruthenium(II) trisphenanthroline as the chromophore, pyridine as the CO2 reduction catalyst, KCl, and ascorbic acid as a sacrificial reductant, using visible light irradiation at 470 ± 20 nm. Isotopic labeling with (13)CO2 yields the six-electron-reduced product (13)CH3OH. After 1 h photolysis, the two-electron-reduced product formate and the six-electron-reduced product methanol are produced with quantum yields of 0.025 and 1.1 × 10(–4), respectively. This represents 76 and 0.15 turnovers per Ru for formate and methanol, respectively, and 152 and 0.9 turnovers per Ru on an electron basis for formate and methanol, respectively. The system is inactive after 6 h irradiation, which appears largely to be due to chromophore degradation. A partial optimization of the methanol yield showed that high pyridine to Ru ratios are needed (100:1) and that the optimum pH is near 5.0. The presence of potassium salts enhances the yield in formate and methanol by 8- and 2-fold, respectively, compared to electrolyte-free solutions; however, other alkali and alkali earth cations have little effect. The addition of small amounts of solid metal catalysts immobilized on carbon had either no effect (M = Pt or Pd) or deleterious effects (M = Ni or Au) on methanol production. Addition of colloidal Pt resulted in no methanol production at all. This is in notable contrast with the pyridine-based electrocatalysis of CO2 to methanol in which metallic or conductive surfaces such as Pt, Pd, or p-type GaP are necessary for methanol formation.