Apr 27 2010
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major factor in global warming and the bete noire of climate change scientists. But if scientists at the A*STAR have any say in the matter, it could soon be turned into useful energy in a simple, inexpensive and eco-friendly way.
A team at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) led by principal researcher Yugen Zhang has invented a method for converting CO2 to into methanol (CH3OH) using an organocatalyst system based on a class of compounds called N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC). In recent years, demands for alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuels have been growing against the backdrop of rising concern about climate change, and methanol has great potential in the alternative energy arena as a biofuel. “CO2 is a major greenhouse gas and a major cause for global warming. The energy crisis is also an urgent issue to tackle. If we can convert CO2 to energy in a cost-effective manner, it would solve two problems in one shot. That is the motivation of our research,” says Zhang.
Organocatalysts have been known for a long time, but only in recent years has the technology once again come under the spotlight. When Zhang joined the IBN in 2004, organocatalysis was still a newly rediscovered research field. His first work was on immobilizing organocatalysts on solid supports to improve their usability, but he also succeeded in developing a number of novel polymeric organocatalysts. This prompted him to shift his research focus toward the development of new organocatalytic reactions for organic and pharmaceuticals syntheses—including CO2 fixation and utilization. In 2009, Zhang published a paper1 in collaboration with Jackie Y. Ying, professor and executive director of the IBN, and Siti Nurhanna Riduan, an IBN senior lab officer (Fig. 1), which attracted much attention from both the scientific community and industry.
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