Catalyst self-assembly accelerates bimetallic light-driven electrocatalytic H2 evolution in water.

Hydrogen evolution is an important fuel-generating reaction that has been subject to mechanistic debate about the roles of monometallic and bimetallic pathways. The molecular iridium catalysts in this study undergo photoelectrochemical dihydrogen (H2) evolution via a bimolecular mechanism, providing an opportunity to understand the factors that promote bimetallic H-H coupling. Covalently tethered diiridium catalysts evolve H2 from neutral water faster than monometallic catalysts, even at lower overpotential. The unexpected origin of this improvement is non-covalent supramolecular self-assembly into nanoscale aggregates that efficiently harvest light and form H-H bonds. Monometallic catalysts containing long-chain alkane substituents leverage the self-assembly to evolve H2 from neutral water at low overpotential and with rates close to the expected maximum for this light-driven water splitting reaction. Design parameters for holding multiple catalytic sites in close proximity and tuning catalyst microenvironments emerge from this work.

Photoinduced Electron Transfer in an Anthraquinone-[Ru(bpy)3](2+)-Oligotriarylamine-[Ru(bpy)3](2+)-Anthraquinone Pentad.

A molecular pentad comprised of a central multielectron donor and two flanking photosensitizer-acceptor moieties was prepared in order to explore the possibility of accumulating two positive charges at the central donor, using visible light as an energy input. Photoinduced charge accumulation in purely molecular systems without sacrificial reagents is challenging, because of the multitude of energy-wasting reaction pathways that are accessible after excitation with two photons. As expected, the main photoproduct in our pentad is a simple electron-hole pair, and it is tricky to identify the desired two-electron oxidation product on top of the stronger signal resulting from one-electron oxidation.

Photoinduced Charge Accumulation in Molecular Systems.

Fuel-forming reactions such as CO(2) reduction or water splitting require multiple redox equivalents. When aiming at light-driven production of energy-rich chemicals, nowadays often referred to as solar fuels, it therefore becomes important to master the photoinduced accumulation of electrons or holes on individual molecular components. Featured in this short review are some of the key molecular systems explored in this emerging field of research. This includes for example a trinuclear Ru(II)-Rh(III)-Ru(III) complex or an Ir(III)-sensitized polyoxotungstate hybrid, but also several systems in which electron or hole collection occurs at organic moieties such as perylenebis(dicarboximide), quinone-containing or oligotriarylamine-based units. In many cases the photodriven accumulation of charge requires the use of sacrificial electron donors, but there exist also a handful of studies in which redox equivalents can be accumulated without the use of such additives.

Photoinduced charge accumulation by metal ion-coupled electron transfer.

An oligotriarylamine (OTA) unit, a Ru(bpy)3(2+) photosensitizer moiety (Ru), and an anthraquinone (AQ) entity were combined to a molecular dyad (Ru-OTA) and a molecular triad (AQ-Ru-OTA). Pulsed laser excitation at 532 nm led to the formation of charge-separated states of the type Ru(-)-OTA(+) and AQ(-)-Ru-OTA(+) with lifetimes of ≤10 ns and 2.4 µs, respectively, in de-aerated CH3CN at 25 °C. Upon addition of Sc(OTf)3, very long-lived photoproducts were observed. Under steady-state irradiation conditions using a flux of (6.74 ± 0.21) × 10(15) photons per second at 450 nm, the formation of twofold oxidized oligotriarylamine (OTA(2+)) was detected in aerated CH3CN containing 0.02 M Sc(3+), as demonstrated unambiguously by comparison with UV-Vis absorption spectra obtained in the course of chemical oxidation with Cu(2+). Photodriven charge accumulation on the OTA unit of Ru-OTA and AQ-Ru-OTA is possible due to the lowering of the O2 reduction potential caused by the interaction of superoxide with the strong Lewis acid Sc(3+). The presence of the anthraquinone unit in AQ-Ru-OTA accelerates the rate-determining reaction step for charge accumulation by a factor of 10 compared to the Ru-OTA dyad. This is attributed to the formation of Sc(3+)-stabilized anthraquinone radical anion intermediates in the triad. Possible mechanistic pathways leading to charge accumulation are discussed. Photodriven charge accumulation is of key importance for solar fuels because their production will have to rely on multi-electron chemistry rather than single-electron reaction steps. Our study is the first to demonstrate that metal ion-coupled electron transfer (MCET) can be exploited to accumulate charges on a given molecular unit using visible light as an energy input. The approach of using a combination of intra- and intermolecular electron transfer reactions which are enabled by MCET is conceptually novel, and the fundamental insights gained from our study are relevant in the greater context of solar energy conversion.

Charge transfer emission in oligotriarylamine-triarylborane compounds.

Donor-acceptor compounds exhibiting charge transfer emission are of interest in a variety of different contexts, for example, for nonlinear optical processes and for sensor applications. Recently investigated triarylamine-triarylborane compounds represent an important class of donor-acceptor systems, and we explored to what extent their charge-transfer properties can be further improved by using stronger amine donors and borane acceptors than prior studies. The oligotriarylamine employed here is a much stronger donor than previously used triarylamines containing single nitrogen centers. In order to increase the acceptor strength, the electron-accepting unit was equipped with two (instead of one) dimesitylboron substituents. In our comparative study, six donor-acceptor compounds were synthesized and investigated by cyclic voltammetry and optical spectroscopy. An increase of the donor strength through replacement of an ordinary triarylamine by an oligotriarylamine unit leads to the expected energetic stabilization of charge transfer (CT) excited states, but the emission solvatochromism is not more pronounced. The attempted increase of the acceptor strength by substitution of the acceptor moiety by two (instead of one) dimesitylboron groups leads to a drastic decrease of emission quantum yields. On the basis of these results, our purely experimental study provides fundamental guidelines for the design of new triarylamine-triarylborane donor-acceptor compounds with favorable charge-transfer emission properties.

Photoinduced Charge Accumulation in Molecular Systems.

Fuel-forming reactions such as CO2 reduction or water splitting require multiple redox equivalents. When aiming at light-driven production of energy-rich chemicals, nowadays often referred to as solar fuels, it therefore becomes important to master the photoinduced accumulation of electrons or holes on individual molecular components. Featured in this short review are some of the key molecular systems explored in this emerging field of research. This includes for example a trinuclear Ru(II)-Rh(III)-Ru(III) complex or an Ir(III)-sensitized polyoxotungstate hybrid, but also several systems in which electron or hole collection occurs at organic moieties such as perylenebis(dicarboximide), quinone-containing or oligotriarylamine-based units. In many cases the photodriven accumulation of charge requires the use of sacrificial electron donors, but there exist also a handful of studies in which redox equivalents can be accumulated without the use of such additives.

Photoinduced electron transfer in rhenium(I)-oligotriarylamine molecules.

Two molecular triads with an oligotriarylamine multielectron donor were synthesized and investigated with a view to obtaining charge-separated states in which the oligotriarylamine is oxidized 2-fold. Such photoinduced accumulation of multiple redox equivalents is of interest for artificial photosynthesis. The first triad was comprised of the oligotriarylamine and two rhenium(I) tricarbonyl diimine photosensitizers each of which can potentially accept one electron. In the second triad the oligotriarylamine was connected to anthraquinone, in principle an acceptor of two electrons, via a rhenium(I) tricarbonyl diimine unit. With nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (using an ordinary pump-probe technique) no evidence for the generation of 2-fold oxidized oligotriarylamine or 2-fold reduced anthraquinone was found. The key factors limiting the photochemistry of the new triads to simple charge separation of one electron and one hole are discussed, and the insights gained from this study are useful for further research in the area of charge accumulation in purely molecular (nanoparticle-free) systems. An important problem of the rhenium-based systems considered here is the short wavelength required for photoexcitation. In the second triad, photogenerated anthraquinone monoanion is protonated by organic acids, and the resulting semiquinone species leads to an increase in lifetime of the charge-separated state by about an order of magnitude. This shows that the proton-coupled electron transfer chemistry of quinones could be beneficial for photoinduced charge accumulation.

Charge delocalization in a homologous series of α,α'-bis(dianisylamino)-substituted thiophene monocations.

A homologous series of three molecules containing thiophene, bithiophene, and terthiophene bridges between two redox-active tertiary amino groups was synthesized and explored. Charge delocalization in the one-electron-oxidized forms of these molecules was investigated by a combination of cyclic voltammetry, near-infrared optical absorption spectroscopy, and EPR spectroscopy. All three cation radicals can be described as organic mixed-valence species, and for all of them the experimental data are consistent with strong delocalization of the unpaired electron. Depending on what model is used for analysis of the optical absorption data, estimates for the electronic coupling matrix element (H(AB)) range from ∼5000 to ∼7000 cm(-1) for the shortest member of the homologous series. According to optical absorption and EPR spectroscopy, even the terthiophene radical appears to belong either to Robin-Day class III or to a category of radicals commonly denominated as borderline class II/class III systems. The finding of such a large extent of charge delocalization over up to three adjacent thiophene units is remarkable.