John A. Tossell of the University of Maryland was extending work by Simon Brooks, Philip Gale and Mark Light in the 2006 "Anion-binding modes in a macrocyclic amidourea." The bowl-shaped molecule (a macrocyclic amidourea) manages to capture local carbon dioxide through an evaporation process that promises not only to remove CO2, but to effectively imprison it for later controlled release.

The slow evaporation from a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution, which disrupts base pairing, that contained organic compounds was found to yield a complex CO3 molecule that draws local CO2. "The ready formation of this compound [CO3] suggets a high stability… may be a candidate as a receptor or absorber for atmospheric CO2," per Tossell.

Using water instead of DMSO as a solvent or heat would decompose the CO3 to release the carbon dioxide. This molecule could serve as a carbon "usher," working to isolate and confine the CO2, potentially even from the pollution from a power plant, which could then be controlled to redirect the CO2 towards combustion.

Carbon dioxide could be directed towards a multitude of uses, including feeding commercial algae farms. Carbon sequestration has been considered dangerous due to the lack of control over the actual gas once it is released, as explained recently by a company that has already managed to demonstrate carbon recycling.

Tossell suggests that the process may be "most useful for removing CO2 [in] ambient air," while capturing excess CO2 might be better served by the creation of solid polymeric carbonic acid. Carbonic acid occurs when carbon dioxide is dissolved in water and is a weak acid.

The potential from H2CO3 was explored by Tossell in 2006 in "H2CO3 and Its Oligomers: Structures, Stabilities, Vibrational and NMR Spectra, and Acidities." He considers the evaporation process required for the carbon capture to occur a "complimentary one" to carbonic acid.

The full text of the article, "Catching CO2 in a Bowl," can be viewed at here, and the report will be published in the August 3rd edition of the American Chemical Society journal, Inorganic Chemistry.