Comparative Study of Imidazole and Pyridine Catalyzed Reduction of Carbon Dioxide at Illuminated Iron Pyrite Electrodes

The chemistry of the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 using nitrogen containing heteroaromatics is further explored by the direct comparison of imidazole and pyridine catalyzed CO 2 reduction at illuminated iron pyrite electrodes. The mechanism of imidazole based catalysis of CO 2 reduction is investigated by analyzing the catalytic activity of a series of imidazole derivatives using cyclic voltammetry. While similar product distributions are obtained for both imidazole and pyridine, the imidazole catalyzed reduction of CO 2 likely proceeds via a very different mechanism involving the C2 carbon of the imidazole ring.