Nitrous Oxide (N2O) : electro-assisted catalytic deoxygenation and beyond – DeMONOX

Nitrous oxide is a minor constituent of the atmosphere whose tropospheric concentration is contunuously rising since the beginning of the industrial era. Main driver of this phenomenon is the large-scale use of synthetic fertilizers that drives perturbations of the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle. Increased levels of atmospheric N2O are of urgent concern: third most important greenhouse gas produced by human activities, it is also nowadays acting as the main ozone-depleting agent.
Molecular electro-assisted approaches have emerged as a promising way to catalytically drive its reduction to benign dinitrogen, N2. Recent progresses have highlighted the diversity of transition metal complexes capable to act as catalysts in such processes. In most electro-assisted systems, however, the fate of the oxygen atom is not discussed and its valorisation is overlooked.The DeMONOX project aims at developing new original electro-assisted catalytic strategies for N2O remediation and valorization. Newly-designed complexes will be synthesized and electrochemically investigated to specifically address unexplored aspects of the reactivity of N2O. Electro-assisted N2O deoxygenation will primarily be explored through the prism of the structure-activity relationship and mechanism manipulation. One step further, the electro-assisted oxygenation of organic derivatives using nitrous oxide will be investigated. Although challenging, it would set the first electrochemically-driven use of N2O in oxygenation reaction. Finally, heterogenization of the best deoxygenative catalytic candidates within carbon-based materials will be undertaken. Electrocatalytic properties towards N2O of the resulting hybrid materials will be scrutinized.