Activation and Fixation of Atmospheric CO2 through a 1,2,3-Triazole-Based Mesoionic Carbene–Borane Adduct

Abstract

Capturing atmospheric CO2 and converting it to valuable chemicals are important goals in contemporary science. We present here a simple, transition metal-free triazolylidene–borane adduct that can capture atmospheric CO2 and convert it to formate. Several key intermediates were isolated and characterized by a combination of multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy and single crystal X-ray diffraction. A first closed cycle for the conversion of CO2 to formic acid by using the aforementioned triazolylidene–borane compound is presented as well.