Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent atmospheric pollutant.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent atmospheric pollutant. Although naturally occurring, anthropogenic N2O emissions from intensive agricultural fertilisation, industrial processes, and combustion of fossil fuels and biomass are a major cause for concern. Researchers at the University of Warwick have isolated elusive transition metal compounds of N2O that provide clues into how it could be used in sustainable chemical technologies.
N2O is a powerful greenhouse gas, with a half life of 114 years in the atmosphere and global warming potential 300 times greater than carbon dioxide. It is also the dominant ozone depleting substance emitted in the 21st century.
As an abundant chemical feedstock, the use of N2O as a sustainable oxidant in synthetic organic chemistry is an attractive prospect, liberating environmentally benign dinitrogen (N2). Such reactions are encumbered by the robust triatomic formulation of this gas, typically requiring forcing reaction conditions that are energy intensive and undesirable from a remediation perspective. The development of mild and selective alternatives is a longstanding ambition of research scientists, but has been met with little success.
Read more at University of Warwick
