Whereas synthetic chemists currently rely essentially on fossil fuels as a source of carbon for their reactions, plants have been extracting it from atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) for millions of years. A team of chemists at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, has made easier the breaking of the extremely stable C-O bond by using a new catalyst called graphitic carbon nitride. The reaction works on a similar principle as photosynthesis in plants and will allow chemists to extract the CO2 directly from the atmosphere to synthesize drugs, or even make liquid fuel.
Source: chemie.de
