skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Incorporating Peptides in the Outer Coordination Sphere of Bio-inspired Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Production

Journal Article · · Inorganic Chemistry, 50(9):4073-4085
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ic1025872· OSTI ID:1013287

Four new cyclic 1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphacyclooctane ligands have been prepared and used to synthesize [Ni(PPh2NR2)2]2+ complexes in which R is a mono- or dipeptide. These complexes represent a first step in developing an outer coordination sphere for this class of complexes that can mimic the outer coordination sphere of the active sites of hydrogenase enzymes. Importantly, these complexes retain the electrocatalytic activity of the parent [Ni(PPh2NPh2)2]2+ complex in acetonitrile solution with turnover frequencies (TOF) for hydrogen production ranging from 14 to 25 s-1 in the presence of p-cyanoanilinium trifluoromethanesulphonic acid and 135-1000 s-1 in the presence of triflic acid salt of protonated dimethylformamide, with moderately low overpotentials, ~0.3 V. The addition of small amounts of water result in rate increases of 5-7 times. Unlike the parent complex, these complexes demonstrate dynamic structural transformations in solution whereby the dipeptide tail interacts with the nickel center. These results establish a building block from which larger peptide scaffolding can be added to allow the [Ni(PR2NR’2)2]2+ molecular catalytic core to begin to mimic the multifunctional outer coordination sphere of enzymes. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences' Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1013287
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-75284; INOCAJ; KC0302010; TRN: US201110%%495
Journal Information:
Inorganic Chemistry, 50(9):4073-4085, Vol. 50, Issue 9; ISSN 0020-1669
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English