Ticking the CO2 clock with molecular control. From fuels to complex molecules

 

Ticking the CO₂ clock with molecular control. From fuels to complex molecules

 

Date: 7^th May, 2026 (Thursday)

Time: 6 - 7 pm (HKT)

 

Venue: Lecture Theatre T3, Meng Wah Complex

 

 

Sorbonne Université

Institut Universitaire de France

 

Marc Robert is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Sorbonne Université, and a Senior member (Innovation Chair) of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). His work is dedicated to all facets of electrochemical and photochemical approaches of electron-transfer reactivity, and to the catalytic activation of small molecules (CO₂, N₂), in an effort to solve contemporary energy challenges.

 

Among several distinctions, M. Robert was awarded the first International Prize Essential Molecules Challenge from Air Liquide (2016), a French National Innovation Prize (2021) and the Senior Researcher Prize from the French Chemical Society (Physical Chemistry division, 2022). In March 2024, he received the International Prize of the Society for the Coordination Chemistry of Japan, and he has been recently listed as a Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Chemistry (2023, 2025). He was very recently (April, 2026) awarded the Silver Medal from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), one of the highest French scientific distinction.

 

Marc is also an International Advisory Board member at Angewandte Chemie International Edition, ChemSusChem (Wiley), Artificial Photosynthesis and ACS Electrochemistry (ACS).

 

Reduction of carbon dioxide has as main objective the production of useful chemicals and fuels - renewable fuels - in which solar energy would be stored. Molecular catalysts can be employed to reach this goal, either in photochemical or electrochemical (or combined) contexts. They may in particular provide excellent selectivity thanks to easy tuning of the electronic properties at the metal and of the ligand second and third coordination sphere. Based on thorough mechanistic studies, we have shown that such molecular catalysts may be tuned for generating all C1 products, including formaldehyde, methanol and methane, ^1-5 but also C2+ products⁶ and more complex molecules, including sugars (!).⁷ Our recent results will be discussed.

 

[1] J. Bonin, M. Robert et al. Nature 2017, 548, 74

[2] C. Berlinguette, M. Robert et al. Science 2019, 365, 367

[3] T. F. Jaramillo, M. Robert et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 16172

[4] M. Robert, B. Liu et al. Nat. Commun. 2023, 14, 3401

[5] M. Robert et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 22129

[6] M. Robert, M. Abdinejad, T. Burdyny et al., Nat. Catal. 2024, 7, 1109

[7] S. Bontemps, M. Robert et al., Chem. Sci. 2025, 16, 22996