TY - JOUR
T1 - Relevance of chemical vs electrochemical oxidation of tunable carbene iridium complexes for catalytic water oxidation
AU - Olivares, Marta
AU - van der Ham, C.J.M.
AU - Mdluli, Velabo
AU - Schmidtendorf, Markus
AU - Muller-Bunz, Helge
AU - Verhoeven, M.W.G.M. (Tiny)
AU - Li, Mo
AU - Niemantsverdriet, J.W. (Hans)
AU - Hetterscheid, D.G.H.
AU - Bernhard, Stefan
AU - Albrecht, Martin
PY - 2020/3/15
Y1 - 2020/3/15
N2 - Based on previous work that identified iridium(III) Cp* complexes containing a C,N-bidentate chelating triazolylidene-pyridyl ligand (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl, C
5Me
5
–) as efficient molecular water oxidation catalysts, a series of new complexes based on this motif has been designed and synthesized in order to improve catalytic activity. Modifications include specifically the introduction of electron-donating substituents into the pyridyl unit of the chelating ligand (H, a; 5-OMe, b; 4-OMe, c; 4-tBu, d; 4-NMe
2, e), as well as electronically active substituents on the triazolylidene C4 position (H, 8; COOEt, 9; OEt, 10; OH, 11; COOH, 12). Chemical oxidation using cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN) indicates a clear structure-activity relationship with electron-donating groups enhancing catalytic turnover frequency, especially when the donor substituent is positioned on the triazolylidene ligand fragment (TOF
max = 2500 h
–
1 for complex 10 with a MeO group on pyr and a OEt-substituted triazolylidene, compared to 700 h
–
1 for the parent benchmark complex without substituents). Electrochemical water oxidation does not follow the same trend, and reveals that complex 8b without a substituent on the triazolylidene fragment outperforms complex 10 by a factor of 5, while in CAN-mediated chemical water oxidation, complex 10 is twice more active than 8b. This discrepancy in catalytic activity is remarkable and indicates that caution is needed when benchmarking iridium water oxidation catalysts with chemical oxidants, especially when considering that application in a potential device will most likely involve electrocatalytic water oxidation.
AB - Based on previous work that identified iridium(III) Cp* complexes containing a C,N-bidentate chelating triazolylidene-pyridyl ligand (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienyl, C
5Me
5
–) as efficient molecular water oxidation catalysts, a series of new complexes based on this motif has been designed and synthesized in order to improve catalytic activity. Modifications include specifically the introduction of electron-donating substituents into the pyridyl unit of the chelating ligand (H, a; 5-OMe, b; 4-OMe, c; 4-tBu, d; 4-NMe
2, e), as well as electronically active substituents on the triazolylidene C4 position (H, 8; COOEt, 9; OEt, 10; OH, 11; COOH, 12). Chemical oxidation using cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN) indicates a clear structure-activity relationship with electron-donating groups enhancing catalytic turnover frequency, especially when the donor substituent is positioned on the triazolylidene ligand fragment (TOF
max = 2500 h
–
1 for complex 10 with a MeO group on pyr and a OEt-substituted triazolylidene, compared to 700 h
–
1 for the parent benchmark complex without substituents). Electrochemical water oxidation does not follow the same trend, and reveals that complex 8b without a substituent on the triazolylidene fragment outperforms complex 10 by a factor of 5, while in CAN-mediated chemical water oxidation, complex 10 is twice more active than 8b. This discrepancy in catalytic activity is remarkable and indicates that caution is needed when benchmarking iridium water oxidation catalysts with chemical oxidants, especially when considering that application in a potential device will most likely involve electrocatalytic water oxidation.
KW - Chemical oxidant
KW - Electrocatalysis
KW - Iridium
KW - Structure activity relationship
KW - Water oxidation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081751567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ejic.202000090
DO - 10.1002/ejic.202000090
M3 - Article
VL - 2020
SP - 801
EP - 812
JO - European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
JF - European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
SN - 1434-1948
IS - 10
ER -