The staggering amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced annually has global ramifications and creates technical restrictions that dictate the viability of potential solutions.  As a result, any practical proposal for CO2 remediation must minimize economic cost by requiring low energy input and using abundant materials.  While sequestration has been proposed as a solution to this problem, an alternative that off-sets the costs involved in remediation is to take a cue from Nature and convert CO2 into value-added products as is done in photosynthesis.  As CO2 is the most abundant C1feedstock on the planet, a mild route forits conversion into methanol (MeOH) would prove to be valuable.The fundamental platform we use for this chemistry is based around the concept of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs), which arise when an electron pair donor (Lewis base) and an electron pair acceptor (Lewis acid) are precluded from forming a stable adduct by the size of their respective supporting substituents.  This unquenched (i.e. 'frustrated') Lewis acid/base combination exhibits interesting reactivity, including small molecule activation and metal-free catalysis.

Reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> using main group catalysts

245th National Meeting (2013)

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Reduction of CO2 using main group catalysts

Reduction of CO₂ using main group catalysts