Brown University researchers have demonstrated the viability of a bench scale reaction to utilize carbon dioxide and ethylene as reactants in the production of valuable acrylate compounds with low-valent molybdenum catalysts. Exploratory experiments have been conducted to identifying those factors which control the current catalyst limiting step in acrylic acid formation. 

The project consisted of three project phases. Phase I expanded the range of molybdenum complexes capable of coupling CO2 and ethylene by defining the available ligand architectures which facilitate acrylate formation. Phase II leveraged computational and experimental mechanistic investigations to determine the catalyst coordination environment and reaction conditions necessary to enhance the catalytic limiting step, reductive acrylate elimination. Phase III included the design and preparation of an optimized molybdenum catalyst(s) for a bench scale reaction to test the feasibility of molybdenum catalyzed acrylate formation from CO2.