Photochemically Driven Reverse Water-Gas Shift at Ambient Conditions mediated by a Nickel Pincer Complex.

The endothermic reverse water-gas shift reaction (rWGS) for direct CO2 hydrogenation to CO is an attractive approach to carbon utilization. However, direct CO2 hydrogenation with molecular catalysts generally gives formic acid instead of CO as a result of the selectivity of CO2 insertion into M-H bonds. Based on the photochemical inversion of this selectivity, several synthetic pathways are presented for CO selective CO2 reduction with a nickel pincer platform including the first example of a photodriven rWGS cycle at ambient conditions.