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Water‐Soluble Polymers with Appending Porphyrins as Bioinspired Catalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
Author(s) -
Xie Lisi,
Tian Jia,
Ouyang Yingjie,
Guo Xinai,
Zhang Weian,
Apfel UlfPeter,
Zhang Wei,
Cao Rui
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202003836
Subject(s) - porphyrin , side chain , polymer , chemistry , catalysis , solubility , residue (chemistry) , aqueous solution , combinatorial chemistry , photocatalysis , photochemistry , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , engineering
Molecular design to improve catalyst performance is significant but challenging. In enzymes, residue groups that are close to reaction centers play critical roles in regulating activities. Using this bioinspired strategy, three water‐soluble polymers were designed with appending Co porphyrins and different side‐chain groups to mimic enzyme reaction centers and activity‐controlling residue groups, respectively. With these polymers, high hydrogen evolution efficiency was achieved in neutral aqueous media for electro‐ (turnover frequency >2.3×10 4 s −1 ) and photocatalysis (turnover number >2.7×10 4 ). Porphyrin units are surrounded and protected by polymer chains, and more importantly, the activity can be tuned with different side‐chain groups. Therefore, instead of revising molecular structures that is difficult from both design and synthesis points of view, polymers can be used to improve molecular solubility and stability and simultaneously regulate activity by using side‐chain groups.