Mild Ammonia Synthesis from Nitrogen Using a Boron-Radical Approach

Ammonia is produced in companies using the energy- and hydrogen-intensive Haber-Bosch process. This research demonstrates the effectiveness with which reactive boron compounds may capture ambient nitrogen and transform it into ammonium chloride in the presence of an acid. At room temperature, this reaction happens in solution without the usage of metals or hydrogen gas. Since nitrogen makes up 77% of the air we breathe, theoretically there is an endless supply of nitrogen that may be used to create ammonia. It only responds to other elements very slowly in practise, though. Metal catalysts speed up this sluggish reaction in the Haber-Bosch process, which was created more than 100 years ago. They cause the nitrogen to be activated, which subsequently produces ammonia after reacting with hydrogen at high pressure and temperature. In the industrial setting, ammonia is utilised to make nitrate fertilisers. When hydrogen is employed as an energy source, it can also be used as a hydrogen store. As a milder alternative to the Haber-Bosch process, microbiological approaches for nitrogen fixation have been the most frequently suggested ones. But using bacteria to produce ammonia biotechnologically is still a very ineffective method. Reactive boron compounds have been shown to target and activate molecular nitrogen very well, according to a team of researchers. These boron-centered radicals were created by the researchers by treating organic boron halides with a potent reducing agent. The chemicals produced at normal temperature transformed molecular nitrogen into borylamines, which then interacted with aqueous acid to produce ammonium chloride. The scientists discovered that the stable triple bond in molecular nitrogen was effectively broken down by the boron-centered radicals they created, allowing molecular nitrogen to be functionalized under benign circumstances. This unconventional strategy gives up further opportunities for ammonia production without the need for fossil-based raw materials.