Three Co II octaazacryptates, with different substituents on the aromatic rings (Br,N O 2 ,C CH), were synthesised and characterised. These and the already published non-substituted cryptatec atalysedC O 2 photoreduction to CO and CH 4 under blue visible light at room temperature. Although CO was observed after short irradiation times and a large range of catalyst concentrations, CH 4 was only observed after longer irradiation periods, such as 30 h, but with as mall catalystc oncentration (25 nm). Experiments with 13 Cl abelledC O 2 showedt hat CO is formed and reacts furtherw hen the reaction time is long. The CCH catalyst is deactivated faster than the others and the more efficient catalystf or CH 4 productioni st he one with Br.T his reactivity trend was explained by an energy decomposition analysis based on DFTcalculations.