Milano, 26 July 2026 - Carbon dioxide is known above all as one of the main gases responsible for climate change. But, in the laboratory, it can also become a resource for developing safer and more sustainable chemical processes.
This is demonstrated by an international study published in Science, to which Politecnico di Milano and the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta” contributed. The research opens up a new perspective on the use of CO₂: not only as a carbon source, as is already the case in many lines of research, but also as an oxygen source for obtaining organic molecules of industrial interest.
The result concerns a very important transformation in organic chemistry: the controlled cleavage of the carbon-carbon double bonds present in alkenes. Alkenes are compounds widely used as a starting point for producing chemical intermediates, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials.
Traditionally, highly reactive oxidising substances, such as ozone, or heavy metals and other reagents that can entail safety issues, high costs and waste production, are used to carry out this type of reaction. The new method, instead, uses CO₂ as an oxygen donor, together with visible light and an iron-based catalyst. The reaction takes place at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.
At the heart of the process is a heterogeneous catalyst containing isolated iron atoms on carbon nitride. When illuminated, the catalyst is able to activate CO₂, a molecule that is normally very stable, and transfer its oxygen atoms to alkenes. In this way it is possible to obtain ketones and carboxylic acids, two families of compounds that are very important for chemical synthesis. The method was tested on 45 different compounds, showing good selectivity even in the presence of sensitive chemical groups, which often require additional protection steps in traditional processes.
“ This study shows that single-atom catalysts, a line of research in which we have been at the forefront for years, continue to open up new opportunities to make chemical processes more efficient, selective and sustainable ” comments Gianvito Vilé , professor of Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. “ It is a fundamental research result, but it points to a promising direction for designing safer oxidation processes that are less dependent on aggressive reagents .”
The contribution of Politecnico di Milano focused in particular on the design and characterisation of the catalyst. Gianvito Vilé and Xiufang He , a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Vilé’s group, participated in the research.
The study is the result of an international collaboration led by the University of Bayreuth, which involved the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Germany, Politecnico di Milano and the National Research Council in Italy, Jagiellonian University in Poland and Stockholm University in Sweden.
The work does not yet represent an industrial technology ready for use, but demonstrates a new principle: even a stable molecule that is difficult to activate such as CO₂ can become an active part of more sustainable chemical processes, thanks to the combination of light, catalysis and abundant metals such as iron.
Science
Experimental study
Not applicable
Photocatalyzed oxidative cleavage of alkenes using CO2 as an oxygen donor
4-Jun-2026