An Dinuclear Iron (III)-Based Homogeneous Catalytic System: Robust, Efficient and Highly Selective CO 2 -to-CO Conversion under Visible Light

A novel dinuclear Fe (III) complex Fe 2 O(NO 3 ) 4 (dmbpy) 2 ]·H 2 O (Fe 2 -DMBPY) with 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (dmbpy) as ligand are reported on the photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 , and another easy-to-prepare dinuclear Fe (III) complex Fe 2 O(NO 3 ) 4 (bpy) 2 ] (Fe 2 -BPY) with 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) as ligand is used to make a comparison. The catalytic activity of Fe 2 -DMBPY is greater than that reported previously, in addition to favorable stability and selectivity. Based on the two intermediates that derived from high-resolution mass spectrometry, density functional theory calculations well confirmed these intermediates can be stable during the experimental process. Graphical Abstract