RUI: Photocatalytic Protein-Catalyst Hybrids to Perform Solar Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Carbon-Based Fuels or Chemicals

在化学系化学合成项目的支持下，马萨诸塞州布里奇沃特州立大学的Sarah Soltau正在研究减少二氧化碳排放的新机制的发展，研究与当今社会面临的温室气体挑战和碳循环有关。这项工作旨在开发光驱动系统，利用正在开发的新型混合催化系统将二氧化碳转化为有用的还原产物。这些光驱动系统由从藻类中分离的蛋白质和地球上丰富的过渡金属催化剂组成。此外，该项目将促进本科生研究人员的教学和培训，他们有望成为下一代STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）研究人员。在这个项目中，索尔陶团队还将与当地高中生开展有关绿色化学、替代能源和气候变化的外展活动。二氧化碳排放是一个非常重大的全球健康问题。该项目旨在开发新的催化系统，以捕获和减少二氧化碳，生成甲酸、甲醇或甲烷等还原产物，并应用于单碳构建块或燃料添加剂。从绿藻小球藻（Chlorella vulgaris）中分离出光活性蛋白Photosystem I (PSI)，然后将其共价附着在一系列地球上丰富的过渡金属催化剂配合物上，用于还原二氧化碳（CO2）。这些PSI-CO2还原催化剂系统将用白光照射，以表征其使用牺牲电子供体和电子转移蛋白的效率。这些光化学反应的产物将使用各种色谱和光谱技术进行表征，以确定PSI-CO2还原催化剂体系的功能和机理。该项目的成功将为光驱动二氧化碳捕获和氧化还原化学提供新的途径。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the support of the Chemical Synthesis Program in the Division of Chemistry, Sarah Soltau of Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts is studying the development of new mechanisms to reductively capture carbon dioxide emissions, studies relevant to the greenhouse gas challenges facing society today and to the carbon cycle in general. This work aims to develop light-driven systems that convert carbon dioxide into useful reduction products using novel hybrid catalytic systems under development. These light-driven systems are comprised of a protein isolated from algae and an earth-abundant transition metal catalyst. In addition, this project will promote the teaching and training of undergraduate student researchers who stand to become the next generation of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) researchers. In this project, the Soltau team will also conduct outreach activities with local high school students on green chemistry, alternative energy, and climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions are a highly significant global health concern. This project aims to develop new catalytic systems to capture and reduce carbon dioxide to generate reduction products as formic acid, methanol, or methane with applications as one-carbon building blocks or as fuel additives. A photoactive protein, Photosystem I (PSI), will be isolated from the green algae, Chlorella vulgaris, and then will be covalently attached to a series of earth-abundant transition metal catalyst complexes for carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction. These PSI-CO2 reduction catalyst systems will be illuminated with white light to characterize their efficiency using a sacrificial electron donor, and an electron transfer protein. The products of these photochemical reactions will be characterized by using a variety of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques to determine the functionality and mechanism of the PSI-CO2 reduction catalyst systems. Success in this project will provide for new approach to photodriven CO2 capture and redox chemistry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.