Nitrogen Radical Photocatalysed Reduction of Nitrous Oxide.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) represents one of the most potent greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential of approximately 300× that of CO2. Yet protocols for its reduction to benign products such as dinitrogen (N2) remain comparatively rare. In this study, we report a nitrogen-based catalyst that enables the photochemical reduction of N2O to N2 using pinacol borane as the reductant. Mechanistic investigations indicate that the active catalytic species operates via an unprecedented N(0)/N(-1) redox cycle. This work represents the first metal-free homogeneous photocatalytic protocol for such a process.