Electrochemical/Photochemical CO2 Reduction Catalyzed by Transition Metal Complexes

Abstract

Conversion of CO2 into useful chemicals is attractive as a solution of the fossil fuel shortage and the global warming problems. Reduction of CO2 into carbon monoxide (CO) and formic acid (HCOOH) is also important for obtaining the materials in organic syntheses. There are a lot of studies on the catalysts for electrochemical/photochemical CO2 reduction. Especially, transition metal complexes have actively researched as the molecular catalysts for CO2 reduction. In this chapter, the electrochemical/photochemical CO2 reduction catalyzed by cis-[Ru(bpy)2(CO)2]2+ (bpy: 2,2′-bipyridine) and trans(Cl)-[Ru(bpy)(CO)2Cl2] is described as a representative example.