In the process photosynthesis, the plants simply grab carbon dioxide out of the air converting it into biomass. But, now chemists have taken an important step towards using CO2 as a carbon source for their synthetic reactions.

Thanks to a team headed by Markus Antonietti at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces for successfully activating CO2 for use in a chemical reaction. For this, they are using a special new type of metal-free catalyst — graphitic carbon nitride.

Exlaining it, chemists Goettmann, Thomas and Antonietti said,

Chemical activation of carbon dioxide, meaning its cleavage in a chemical reaction, is one of the biggest challenges in synthetic chemistry.

Antonietti hopes,

This could make novel, previously unknown chemistry of CO2 accessible. It may even be the first step in artificial photosynthesis.