Porphyrin ligand modification by acceptor-acceptor iodonium ylides is not necessarily a dead-end catalyst deactivation pathway, but can actually have a useful protective function by slowing-down deactivation pathways of the metalloradical cobalt(II)-tetraphenylporphyrin catalyst.

We devise a new, record-efficient, system for the electrified synthesis of ethylene oxide from CO2. We do so by developing a new electrocatalyst that significantly increases the system’s selectivity towards the production of ethylene oxide, with a faradaic efficiency of 35%.