Citation: Ruijing Wang, Shixuan Wang, Chenghui Zhu, Jianze Zhang, Richard N. Zare, Chongqin Zhu, Xinxing Zhang. Increased acidity of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds on water microdroplets facilitates CO₂ capture[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(4): 111547. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111547 shu

Increased acidity of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds on water microdroplets facilitates CO₂ capture

Ruijing Wang ^a ,
Shixuan Wang ^b ,
Chenghui Zhu ^a ,
Jianze Zhang ^a ,
Richard N. Zare ^{c, *,} ,
Chongqin Zhu ^{b, *,} ,
Xinxing Zhang ^{a, *,}

a.
College of Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for New Organic Matter, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Chemical Power Sources, Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biosensing and Molecular Recognition, Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (ReCAST), Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
b.
Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
c.
Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States

rnz@stanford.edu

cqzhu@bnu.edu.cn

zhangxx@nankai.edu.cn

Received Date: 23 February 2025
Revised Date: 6 May 2025
Accepted Date: 4 July 2025
Available Online: 5 July 2025

Figures(5)

Species at the air-water interface of microdroplets often display distinct acidity compared to the bulk. In this study, we report that pyrrole, imidazole, pyrazole, and 2H-1,2,3-triazole, a group of five-membered, planar, aromatic, nitrogen heterocyclic compounds that are basic in bulk water, exhibit strong acidity on microdroplets. The deprotonated anions of pyrrole, imidazole, and pyrazole can further react with CO₂ to generate the corresponding carboxylic acids, but the triazole anion does not react with CO₂. Calculation shows that partial solvation and the electric field on the air-water interface of the microdroplets are the main causes for the increased acidity, and the unique solvation structure of the triazole anion at the interface causes the reactive sites to be shielded by interfacial water molecules, thereby hindering reaction with CO₂. These results demonstrate that the electric field and solvation structure of ions at the air-water interface play a decisive role in microdroplet chemistry for these compounds. We anticipate that the unique acidity and reactivity on microdroplets provide a new avenue that is rich in opportunities for green chemistry.
- Nitrogen heterocyclic compounds,
- Microdroplet,
- Air-water interface,
- Acidity,
- CO₂ capture
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Increased acidity of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds on water microdroplets facilitates CO2 capture

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Increased acidity of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds on water microdroplets facilitates CO₂ capture