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Title: Direct Evidence for Excited Ligand Field State-based Oxidative Photoredox Chemistry of a Cobalt(III) Polypyridyl Photosensitizer

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society

Increasing interest in sustainable chemistry coupled with the quest to explore new reactivity has spurred research on first-row transition metal complexes for potential applications in a variety of settings. One of the more active areas of research is photoredox catalysis, where the synthetically tunable nature of their electronic structures provides a rich palette of options for tailoring their reactivity to a desired chemical transformation. Understanding the mechanism of excited-state reactivity is critical for the informed development of next-generation catalysts, which in turn requires information concerning the propensity of their electronic excited states to engage in the desired electron or energy transfer processes. Herein we provide direct evidence of the highly oxidizing nature of the lowest-energy ligand-field (LF) excited state of a first-row d6-low-spin Co(III) photosensitizer [Co(4,4'-Br2bpy)3]3+ (where 4,4'-Br2bpy is 4,4'-dibromo-2,2'-bipyridine). The redox potential associated with the LF excited state of the Co(III) complex was bracketed by performing bimolecular quenching studies by using a series of simple organic electron donors. Time-resolved absorption spectroscopy confirmed a dynamic quenching process attributed to reductive quenching of the lowest-energy ligand-field excited state of the Co(III) chromophore. Analysis of the Stern–Volmer plots for each chromophore-quencher pair revealed a limiting value of Ered* ~ 1.25 V vs Fc/Fc+ for the metal-centered excited state, which is significantly stronger than that of more commonly employed transition metal-based photoredox agents such as [Ru(bpy)3]2+ (Ered* = 0.32 V vs Fc/Fc+) and [Ir(ppy)2(bpy)]+ (Ered* = 0.27 V vs Fc/Fc+). Finally, these results suggest that this class of chromophores could find utility in applications requiring the activation of oxidatively resistant organic substrates for photoredox catalysis.

Research Organization:
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Bioinspired Light-Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019370
OSTI ID:
2280824
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 145, Issue 38; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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