Production of formate salts from carbon dioxide, hydrogen and amines

摘要

Formate salts of nitrogenous bases containing tertiary nitrogen are prepared by reacting the nitrogenous base with carbon dioxide and hydrogen using a soluble transition metal catalyst. For example triethylamine is reacted with carbon dioxide and hydrogen using ruthenium trichloride as catalyst and an isopropanol/water mixture as solvent to yield triethylammonium formate which was separated from the reaction mixture by distillation.