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Title: Lability and Basicity of Bipyridine-Carboxylate-Phosphonate Ligand Accelerate Single-Site Water Oxidation by Ruthenium-Based Molecular Catalysts

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b06096· OSTI ID:1405937

Here, a critical step in creating an artificial photosynthesis system for energy storage is designing catalysts that can thrive in an assembled device. Single-site catalysts have an advantage over bimolecular catalysts because they remain effective when immobilized. Hybrid water oxidation catalysts described here, combining the features of single-site bis-phosphonate catalysts and fast bimolecular bis-carboxylate catalysts, have reached turnover frequencies over 100 s–1, faster than both related catalysts under identical conditions. The new [(bpHc)Ru(L)2] (bpH2cH = 2,2'-bipyridine-6-phosphonic acid-6'-carboxylic acid, L = 4-picoline or isoquinoline) catalysts proceed through a single-site water nucleophilic attack pathway. The pendant phosphonate base mediates O–O bond formation via intramolecular atom-proton transfer with a calculated barrier of only 9.1 kcal/mol. Additionally, the labile carboxylate group allows water to bind early in the catalytic cycle, allowing intramolecular proton-coupled electron transfer to lower the potentials for oxidation steps and catalysis. That a single-site catalyst can be this fast lends credence to the possibility that the oxygen evolving complex adopts a similar mechanism.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1405937
Report Number(s):
BNL-114461-2017-JA; R&D Project: CO026; KC0304030; TRN: US1703125
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 43; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 64 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Artificial photosynthesis: opportunities and challenges of molecular catalysts journal January 2019
Spectroelectrochemical studies of a ruthenium complex containing the pH sensitive 4,4′-dihydroxy-2,2′-bipyridine ligand journal January 2018
Vertical Step‐Growth Polymerization Driven by Electrochemical Stimuli from an Electrode journal December 2018
A dinuclear iron complex as an efficient electrocatalyst for homogeneous water oxidation reaction journal January 2020
Efficient Homogeneous Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation by a Manganese Cluster with an Overpotential of Only 74 mV journal January 2019
Structural evolution of the Ru-bms complex to the real water oxidation catalyst of Ru-bda: the bite angle matters journal January 2020
Mono‐/Multinuclear Water Oxidation Catalysts journal June 2019
Across the Board: Licheng Sun on the Mechanism of O−O Bond Formation in Photosystem II journal June 2019
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Iridium‐Coordinated Histidyl Bolaamphiphile Self‐Assemblies as Heterogeneous Catalysts for Water Oxidation journal July 2018
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Water Oxidation Catalyzed by Ruthenium Complexes with 4-Hydroxypyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate as a Negatively Charged Tridentate Ligand: Water Oxidation Catalyzed by Ruthenium Complexes with 4-Hydroxypyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate as a Negatively Charged Tridentate Ligand journal June 2020
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Proton Acceptor near the Active Site Lowers Dramatically the O–O Bond Formation Energy Barrier in Photocatalytic Water Splitting journal November 2019
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Figures / Tables (8)