Design of CO₂ hydrogenation catalysts based on phosphane/borane frustrated Lewis pairs and xanthene-derived scaffolds

New naphtho[2,1,8,7-klmn]xanthene and benzo[kl]xanthene-based intramolecular phosphane–borane frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) were investigated in catalyzed H2 activation and CO2 hydrogenation processes. According to DFT predictions at the B3LYP-D3 level, the presence of rigid scaffolds and increased P···B distances in the investigated FLPs lead to a remarkable drop in the energy barrier for CO2 hydrogenation (by up to 19.2 kcal mol−1, compared to the parent dimethylxanthene-based FLP). Furthermore, the energy differences between the transition states for H2 activation and CO2 hydrogenation are significantly reduced, making both processes feasible under relatively mild experimental conditions