Changing Lanes from Concerted to Stepwise Hydrogenation: The Reduction Mechanism of Frustrated Lewis Acid–Base Pair Trapped CO₂ to Methanol by Ammonia–Borane

Abstract

The chameleon reductant: CO2 trapped by a frustrated Lewis pair is predicted to undergo BH activation mediated reduction by NH3BH3, in contrast to concerted NH3BH3 reduction of free CO2 (see figure). This mechanism provides further fundamental understanding of novel CO2 reduction processes that could lead to environmentally friendly and economically viable production of renewable fuels. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.