Evidence for Oxidative Decay of a Ru-Bound Ligand during Catalyzed Water Oxidation

• In the evaluation of systems designed for 800 catalytic water oxidation, ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) is often used as a sacrificial electron acceptor. One of the sources of failure for such systems is oxidative decay of the catalyst in the presence of the strong oxidant CAN (E-ox = +1.71 V). Little progress has been made in understanding the circumstances behind this decay. In this study we show that a 2-(2'-hydroxphenyl) derivative (LH) of 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) in the complex [Ru(L)(tpy)](+) (tpy = 2,2';6',2 ''-terpyridine) can be oxidized by CAN to a 2-carboxy-phen while still bound to the metal. This complex is, in fact, a very active water oxidation catalyst. The incorporation of a methyl substituent on the phenol ring of LH slows down the oxidative decay and consequently slows down the catalytic oxidation. An analogous system based on bpy (2,2'-bipyridine) instead of phen shows much lower activity under the same conditions. Water molecule association to the Ru center of [Ru(L)(tpy)](+) and carboxylate donor dissociation were proposed to occur at the trivalent state. The resulting [Ru-III-OH2] was further oxidized to [Ru-IV=O] via a PCET process.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

mononuclear Ru catalysts

water oxidation

anionic ligands

2-carboxyphenanthroline

ligand decay

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)