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Self‐Assembled Amphiphilic Water Oxidation Catalysts: Control of O−O Bond Formation Pathways by Different Aggregation Patterns
Author(s) -
Yang Bing,
Jiang Xin,
Guo Qing,
Lei Tao,
Zhang LiPing,
Chen Bin,
Tung ChenHo,
Wu LiZhu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201601653
Subject(s) - chemistry , catalysis , supramolecular chemistry , pyridine , amphiphile , sulfonate , catalytic oxidation , photochemistry , polymer chemistry , molecule , organic chemistry , polymer , copolymer , sodium
The oxidation of water to molecular oxygen is the key step to realize water splitting from both biological and chemical perspective. In an effort to understand how water oxidation occurs on a molecular level, a large number of molecular catalysts have been synthesized to find an easy access to higher oxidation states as well as their capacity to make O−O bond. However, most of them function in a mixture of organic solvent and water and the O−O bond formation pathway is still a subject of intense debate. Herein, we design the first amphiphilic Ru‐bda (H 2 bda=2,2′‐bipyridine‐6,6′‐dicarboxylic acid) water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) of formula [Ru II (bda)(4‐OTEG‐pyridine) 2 ] ( 1 , OTEG=OCH 2 CH 2 OCH 2 CH 2 OCH 3 ) and [Ru II (bda)(PySO 3 Na) 2 ] ( 2 , PySO 3 − =pyridine‐3‐sulfonate), which possess good solubility in water. Dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), critical aggregation concentration (CAC) experiments and product analysis demonstrate that they enable to self‐assemble in water and form the O−O bond through different routes even though they have the same bda 2− backbone. This work illustrates for the first time that the O−O bond formation pathway can be regulated by the interaction of ancillary ligands at supramolecular level.