The observed water oxidation activity of the compound class Co4O4(OAc)4(Py–X)4 emanates from a Co(II) impurity. This impurity is oxidized to produce the well-known Co-OEC heterogeneous cobaltate catalyst, which is an active water oxidation catalyst. We present results from electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance line broadening analysis, and electrochemical titrations to establish the existence of the Co(II) impurity as the major source of water oxidation activity that has been reported for Co4O4 molecular cubanes. Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry is used to characterize the fate of glassy carbon at water oxidizing potentials and demonstrate that such electrode materials should be used with caution for the study of water oxidation catalysis.

Halogen photoelimination reactions constitute the oxidative half-reaction of closed HX-splitting energy storage cycles. Here, we report high-yielding, endothermic Cl2 photoelimination chemistry from mononuclear Ni(III) complexes. On the basis of time-resolved spectroscopy and steady-state photocrystallography experiments, a mechanism involving ligand-assisted halogen elimination is proposed. Employing ancillary ligands to promote elimination offers a strategy to circumvent the inherently short-lived excited states of 3d metal complexes for the activation of thermodynamically challenging bonds.

Endothermic halogen elimination reactions, in which molecular halogen photoproducts are generated in the absence of chemical traps, are rare. Inspired by the proclivity of mononuclear Ni(III) complexes to participate in challenging bond-forming reactions in organometallic chemistry, we targeted Ni(III) trihalide complexes as platforms to explore halogen photoelimination. A suite of Ni(III) trihalide complexes supported by bidentate phosphine ligands has been synthesized and characterized. Multinuclear NMR, EPR, and electronic absorption spectroscopies, as well as single-crystal X-ray diffraction, have been utilized to characterize this suite of complexes as distorted square pyramidal, S = 1/2 mononuclear Ni(III) complexes. All complexes participate in clean halogen photoelimination in solution and in the solid state. Evolved halogen has been characterized by mass spectrometry and quantified chemically. Energy storage via halogen elimination was established by solution-phase calorimetry measurements; in all cases, halogen elimination is substantially endothermic. Time-resolved photochemical experiments have revealed a relatively long-lived photointermediate, which we assign to be a Ni(II) complex in which the photoextruded chlorine radical interacts with a ligandbased aryl group. Computational studies suggest that the observed intermediate arises from a dissociative LMCT excited state. The participation of secondary coordination sphere interactions to suppress back-reactions is an attractive design element in the development of energy-storing halogen photoelimination involving first-row transition metal complexes. Article pubs.acs.org/Organometallics

The ground state electronic structure of copper corroles has been a topic of debate and revision since the advent of corrole chemistry. Computational studies formulate neutral Cu corroles with an antiferromagnetically coupled Cu(II) corrole radical cation ground state. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, EPR, and magnetometry support this assignment. For comparison, Cu(II) isocorrole and [TBA][Cu(CF3)4] were studied as authentic Cu(II) and Cu(III) samples, respectively. In addition, the one-electron reduction and one-electron oxidation processes are both ligand-based, demonstrating that the Cu(II) centre is retained in these derivatives. These observations underscore ligand non-innocence in copper corrole complexes.

Incorporation of 2,3,6-trifluorotyrosine (F3Y) and a rhenium bipyridine ([Re]) photooxidant into a peptide corresponding to the C-terminus of the β protein (βC19) of Escherichia coli ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) allows for the temporal monitoring of radical transport into the α2 subunit of RNR. Injection of the photogenerated F3Y radical from the [Re]–F3Y–βC19 peptide into the surface accessible Y731 of the α2 subunit is only possible when the second Y730 is present. With the Y–Y established, radical transport occurs with a rate constant of 3 × 105 s−1. Point mutations that disrupt the Y–Y dyad shut down radical transport. The ability to obviate radical transport by disrupting the hydrogen bonding network of the amino acids composing the co-linear proton-coupled electron transfer pathway in α2 suggests a finely tuned evolutionary adaptation of RNR to control the transport of radicals in this enzyme.

Photochemical HX splitting requires the management of two protons and the execution of multielectron photoreactions. Herein, we report a photoinduced two-electron reduction of a polypyridyl Ni(II) chloride complex that provides a route to H2 evolution from HCl. The excited states of Ni complexes are too short to participate directly in HX activation, and hence, the excited state of a photoredox mediator is exploited for the activation of HX at the Ni(II) center. Nanosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy has revealed that the excited state of the polypyridine results in a photoreduced radical that is capable of mediating HX activation by producing a Ni(I) center by halogen-atom abstraction. Disproportionation of the photogenerated Ni(I) intermediate affords Ni(II) and Ni(0) complexes. The Ni(0) center is capable of reacting with HX to produce H2 and the polypyridyl Ni(II) dichloride, closing the photocycle for H2 generation from HCl.

Halogen photoelimination is a critical step in HX-splitting photocatalysis. Herein, we report the photoreduction of a pair of valence-isomeric dirhodium phosphazane complexes, and suggest that a common intermediate is accessed in the photochemistry of both mixed-valent and valence-symmetric complexes. The results of these investigations suggest that halogen photoelimination proceeds by two sequential photochemical reactions: ligand dissociation followed by subsequent halogen elimination.

A sparsely substituted chlorin macrocycle containing a Co­(II) center (1-Co) has been synthesized and structurally characterized. The Co­(II) atom resides in a square planar coordination environment and induces significant out-of-plane distortion of the chlorin macrocycle. The paramagnetic Co­(II) center resides in the macrocycle in a S = 1/2 spin state, which displays an axial doublet signal (g ⊥ ≈ 2.3 and g ∥ ≈ 2.03) in the X-band EPR spectrum. The open-shell d-orbital configuration is manifest in the transient absorption spectrum, which reveals an excited-state lifetime of 8.6 ± 0.2 ps for 1-Co. The Co­(II) chlorin exhibits a rich oxidation–reduction chemistry with five reversible one-electron waves (three oxidative processes and two reductive processes) observed in the cyclic voltammogram. The reduction processes of 1-Co drive hydrogen evolution catalysis. Electrochemical kinetics analysis of HER by 1-Co in trifluoroacetic acid reveals a hydrogen evolution mechanism that proceeds by an ECEC mechanism. Benchmarking the catalytic activity, 1-Co exhibits higher HER activity at low overpotentials, versus its porphyrin congeners.