Katharina Thenert

TL;DR: The motivation to develop CO2-based chemistry does not depend primarily on the absolute amount of CO2 emissions that can be remediated by a single technology and is stimulated by the significance of the relative improvement in carbon balance and other critical factors defining the environmental impact of chemical production in all relevant sectors in accord with the principles of green chemistry.

TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed mechanistic study using DFT calculations shows that a sequential series of hydride transfer and protonolysis steps can account for the transformation of CO2 via formate/formic acid to hydroxymethanolate or formaldehyde and finally methanolate/methanol within the coordination sphere of a single Ru-Triphos-fragment.

TL;DR: This new catalytic reaction provides the first synthetic example for the selective conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen into a formaldehyde oxidation level, thus opening access to new molecular structures using this important C1 source.

TL;DR: The use of the well-defined [Ru(triphos)(tmm)] catalyst, CO2 as C1 source, and H2 as reducing agent enabled the reductive methylation of isolated imines and was used for the preparation of the antifungal agent butenafine in one step with no apparent waste, thus increasing the atom efficiency of its synthesis.

TL;DR: In this paper, the synthesis of trimethylamine (TMA) through a multicomponent combination of ammonia with carbon dioxide and molecular hydrogen by using a homogeneous ruthenium catalyst was explored.