TY - JOUR A1 - Meza-Chincha, Ana-Lucia A1 - Lindner, Joachim O. A1 - Schindler, Dorothee A1 - Schmidt, David A1 - Krause, Ana-Maria A1 - Röhr, Merle I. S. A1 - Mitrić, Roland A1 - Würthner, Frank T1 - Impact of substituents on molecular properties and catalytic activities of trinuclear Ru macrocycles in water oxidation N2 - Herein we report a broad series of new trinuclear supramolecular Ru(bda) macrocycles bearing different substituents at the axial or equatorial ligands which enabled investigation of substituent effects on the catalytic activities in chemical and photocatalytic water oxidation. Our detailed investigations revealed that the activities of these functionalized macrocycles in water oxidation are significantly affected by the position at which the substituents were introduced. Interestingly, this effect could not be explained based on the redox properties of the catalysts since these are not markedly influenced by the functionalization of the ligands. Instead, detailed investigations by X-ray crystal structure analysis and theoretical simulations showed that conformational changes imparted by the substituents are responsible for the variation of catalytic activities of the Ru macrocycles. For the first time, macrocyclic structure of this class of water oxidation catalysts is unequivocally confirmed and experimental indication for a hydrogen-bonded water network present in the cavity of the macrocycles is provided by crystal structure analysis. We ascribe the high catalytic efficiency of our Ru(bda) macrocycles to cooperative proton abstractions facilitated by such a network of preorganized water molecules in their cavity, which is reminiscent of catalytic activities of enzymes at active sites. KW - water oxidation KW - self-assembly KW - solar fuels KW - supramolecular materials KW - catalysis Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-204653 UR - https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC01097A SN - 2041-6539 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schindler, Dorothee A1 - Gil‐Sepulcre, Marcos A1 - Lindner, Joachim O. A1 - Stepanenko, Vladimir A1 - Moonshiram, Dooshaye A1 - Llobet, Antoni A1 - Würthner, Frank T1 - Efficient Electrochemical Water Oxidation by a Trinuclear Ru(bda) Macrocycle Immobilized on Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotube Electrodes JF - Advanced Energy Materials N2 - Catalytic water splitting is a viable process for the generation of renewable fuels. Here it is reported for the first time that a trinuclear supramolecular Ru(bda) (bda: 2,2′‐bipyridine‐6,6′‐dicarboxylate) catalyst, anchored on multi‐walled carbon nanotubes and subsequently immobilized on glassy carbon electrodes, shows outstanding performance in heterogeneous water oxidation. Activation of the catalyst on anodes by repetitive cyclic voltammetry (CV) scans results in a catalytic current density of 186 mA cm\(^{−2}\) at a potential of 1.45 V versus NHE. The activated catalyst performs water oxidation at an onset overpotential of 330 mV. The remarkably high stability of the hybrid anode is demonstrated by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy and electrochemically, revealing the absence of any degradation after 1.8 million turnovers. Foot of the wave analysis of CV data of activated electrodes with different concentrations of catalyst indicates a monomolecular water nucleophilic attack mechanism with an apparent rate constant of TOFmax (turnover frequency) of 3200 s\(^{−1}\). KW - electrocatalysis KW - heterogeneous catalysis KW - renewable fuels KW - ruthenium bda complexes KW - water splitting Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-218381 VL - 10 IS - 43 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schindler, Dorothee A1 - Meza-Chincha, Anna-Lucia A1 - Roth, Maximilian A1 - Würthner, Frank T1 - Structure-Activity Relationship for Di- up to Tetranuclear Macrocyclic Ruthenium Catalysts in Homogeneous Water Oxidation JF - Chemistry—A European Journal N2 - Two di- and tetranuclear Ru(bda) (bda: 2,2′-bipyridine-6,6′-dicarboxylate) macrocyclic complexes were synthesized and their catalytic activities in chemical and photochemical water oxidation investigated in a comparative manner to our previously reported trinuclear congener. Our studies have shown that the catalytic activities of this homologous series of multinuclear Ru(bda) macrocycles in homogeneous water oxidation are dependent on their size, exhibiting highest efficiencies for the largest tetranuclear catalyst. The turnover frequencies (TOFs) have increased from di- to tetranuclear macrocycles not only per catalyst molecule but more importantly also per Ru unit with TOF of 6 \(^{-1}\) to 8.7 \(^{-1}\) and 10.5 s\(^{-1}\) in chemical and 0.6 s\(^{-1}\) to 3.3 \(^{-1}\) and 5.8 \(^{-1}\) in photochemical water oxidation per Ru unit, respectively. Thus, for the first time, a clear structure–activity relationship could be established for this novel class of macrocyclic water oxidation catalysts. KW - homogeneous catalysis KW - water oxidation KW - ruthenium catalysts KW - renewable fuels KW - metallomacrocycles Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-256792 VL - 27 IS - 68 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Würthner, Frank A1 - Meza-Chincha, Ana-Lucia A1 - Schindler, Dorothee A1 - Natali, Mirco T1 - Effects of Photosensitizers and Reaction Media on Light‐Driven Water Oxidation with Trinuclear Ruthenium Macrocycles JF - ChemPhotoChem N2 - Photocatalytic water oxidation is a promising process for the production of solar fuels and the elucidation of factors that influence this process is of high significance. Thus, we have studied in detail light‐driven water oxidation with a trinuclear Ru(bda) (bda: 2,2’‐bipyridine‐6,6’‐dicarboxylate) macrocycle MC3 and its highly water soluble derivative m‐CH\(_2\)NMe\(_2\)‐MC3 using a series of ruthenium tris(bipyridine) complexes as photosensitizers under varied reaction conditions. Our investigations showed that the catalytic activities of these Ru macrocycles are significantly affected by the choice of photosensitizer (PS) and reaction media, in addition to buffer concentration, light intensity and concentration of the sensitizer. Our steady‐state and transient spectroscopic studies revealed that the photocatalytic performance of trinuclear Ru(bda) macrocycles is not limited by their intrinsic catalytic activities but rather by the efficiency of photogeneration of oxidant PS\(^+\) and its ability to act as an oxidizing agent to the catalysts as both are strongly dependent on the choice of photosensitizer and the amount of employed organic co‐solvent. KW - photosenitizers KW - water oxidation KW - ruthenium complexes KW - macrocycles KW - trinuclear KW - homogenous catalysis KW - photocatalysis Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230116 VL - 5 IS - 2 ER -