The environmental impact associated with carbon dioxide emissions has prompted a wide array of research projects aimed at the chemical reduction of CO2 or its conversion to useful feedstocks with solar energy. Using simple starting reagents, we have demonstrated that when methanol is exposed to visible light overnight in a glass reaction chamber pressurized with carbon dioxide and containing nanostructured cobalt particles, the sole product is naphthalene. Naphthalene is the simplest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and can be used as a precursor to many other complex aromatics. Current industrial processes remove it from coal tar or petroleum during the refining and distillation steps. The process reported here is much greener, albeit on a much smaller scale. The cobalt particles were synthesized from a cobalt salt to exhibit surface nanostructures, and were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After irradiation, any products generated in the reaction chamber were extracted with dichloromethane and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Isotope studies, as well as optimization of the reaction conditions were performed to better understand the process and any mechanistic details.

Production of naphthalene from carbon dioxide and methanol by photocatalysis using nanostructured cobalt

254th National Meeting (2017)

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