UC Irvine

Carbon dioxide emission continues to be an important topic regarding the future of our society, with its primary function being the leading contributor (by amount) to greenhouse gases. We aim to convert CO2 to useful fuel derivatives, indirectly, by 2e- reduction to carbon monoxide. This thesis details the preparation of complexes incorporating two metals in a Robson-type macrocycle to be investigated as a method for the catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. The characterization of these complexes, as well as alternative methods of their syntheses, is reported herein. The complexes’ reactivity and interaction with CO2 was probed by cyclic voltammetry and spectrophotometric methods. Comparison to the well studied mono-metallic complexes, Co(salen) and Ni(salen) (salen = N,N’-ethylenebis(salicylimine)), was used to help establish the importance of a bimetallic cooperative effect for CO2 activation and reduction.