Carbon dioxide is both a product and by-product in everyday life activities such as car emissions, factory pollution, and even several metallurgical processes. As the United States and other countries continue to produce carbon dioxide with fuel emissions and by-products of petroleum, it is becoming increasingly important to determine a mechanism that will effectively catalyze the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide into more useful compound. A Ruthenium (II) bis(2-pyridylcarbonyl)amide or Ru(bpca) complex recently synthesized and characterized in our lab using FTIR and NMR spectroscopies has the potential to effectively catalyze the reduction of carbon dioxide. Solubility studies were done in order to find the optimum solvent for use in electrochemical measurements. We will report on the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization, as well as on the results of the cyclic voltammetric measurements in an acetonitrile solvent sparged with argon, in a saturated CO2 environment, and finally in saturated CO2 solution with low concentrations of water added.

Synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical studies of a ruthenium organometallic complex

251st National Meeting (2016)

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