Tandem Electro‐Thermo‐Catalysis for the Oxidative Aminocarbonylation of Arylboronic Acids to Amides from CO2 and Water

Abstract

AbstractDirect CO2 electroreduction to valuable chemicals is critical for carbon neutrality, while its main products are limited to simple C1/C2 compounds, and traditionally, the anodic O2 byproduct is not utilized. We herein report a tandem electrothermo‐catalytic system that fully utilizes both cathodic (i.e., CO) and anodic (i.e., O2) products during overall CO2 electrolysis to produce valuable organic amides from arylboronic acids and amines in a separate chemical reactor, following the Pd(II)‐catalyzed oxidative aminocarbonylation mechanism. Hexamethylenetetramine (HMT)‐incorporated silver and nickel hydroxide carbonate electrocatalysts were prepared for efficient coproduction of CO and O2 with Faradaic efficiencies of 99.3 % and 100 %, respectively. Systematic experiments, operando attenuated total reflection surface‐enhanced Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy characterizations and theoretical studies reveal that HMT promotes *CO2 hydrogenation/*CO desorption for accelerated CO2‐to‐CO conversion, and O2 inhibits reductive deactivation of the Pd(II) catalyst for enhanced oxidative aminocarbonylation, collectively leading to efficient synthesis of 10 organic amides with high yields of above 81 %. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of a tandem electrothermo‐catalytic strategy for economically attractive CO2 conversion and amide synthesis, representing a new avenue to explore the full potential of CO2 utilization.