Dinuclear Manganese Carbonyl Complexes: Electrocatalytic Reduction of Protons to Dihydrogen

Studies on Mn complexes as electrocatalysts for proton reduction are limited. Mostly Mn complexes have been investigated for CO 2 activation. Hence, hydrogen production by three Mn complexes [(Mn(CO) 3 ( μ ‐SN 2 C 7 H 5 )) 2 ] 1 , [(Mn(CO) 3 ( μ ‐S 2 NC 7 H 4 )) 2 ] 3 and [Mn 2 (CO) 7 ( μ ‐S 2 NC 7 H 4 ) 2 ] 4 is reported in the paper. The complexes 1 , 3 and 4 effectively catalyzed electrochemical proton reduction in CH 3 CN with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) as the proton source. Complexes 1 , 3 and 4 displayed turnover frequency ( TOF / s −1 ) (overpotential, η / V ) of 358 (0.83), 111 (0.79) and 102 (0.77), respectively for the catalytic process.