TY  - JOUR
A1  - Noll, Niklas
A1  - Groß, Tobias
A1  - Shoyama, Kazutaka
A1  - Beuerle, Florian
A1  - Würthner, Frank
T1  - Folding‐Induced Promotion of Proton‐Coupled Electron Transfers via Proximal Base for Light‐Driven Water Oxidation
JF  - Angewandte Chemie International Edition
N2  - Proton‐coupled electron‐transfer (PCET) processes play a key role in biocatalytic energy conversion and storage, for example, photosynthesis or nitrogen fixation. Here, we report a series of bipyridine‐containing di‐ to tetranuclear Ru(bda) macrocycles 2 C–4 C (bda: 2,2′‐bipyridine‐6,6′‐dicarboxylate) to promote O−O bond formation. In photocatalytic water oxidation under neutral conditions, all complexes 2 C–4 C prevail in a folded conformation that support the water nucleophilic attack (WNA) pathway with remarkable turnover frequencies of up to 15.5 s\(^{−1}\) per Ru unit respectively. Single‐crystal X‐ray analysis revealed an increased tendency for intramolecular π‐π stacking and preorganization of the proximal bases close to the active centers for the larger macrocycles. H/D kinetic isotope effect studies and electrochemical data demonstrate the key role of the proximal bipyridines as proton acceptors in lowering the activation barrier for the crucial nucleophilic attack of H\(_{2}\)O in the WNA mechanism.
KW  - artificial photosynthesis
KW  - folded macrocyles
KW  - homogeneous catalysis
KW  - photocatalysis
KW  - Ruthenium complexes
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312020
VL  - 62
IS  - 7
ER  -