TY  - JOUR
A1  - Noll, Niklas
A1  - Krause, Ana-Maria
A1  - Beuerle, Florian
A1  - Würthner, Frank
T1  - Enzyme-like water preorganization in a synthetic molecular cleft for homogeneous water oxidation catalysis
JF  - Nature Catalysis
N2  - Inspired by the proficiency of natural enzymes, mimicking of nanoenvironments for precise substrate preorganisation is a promising strategy in catalyst design. However, artificial examples of enzyme-like activation of H\(_2\)O molecules for the challenging oxidative water splitting reaction are hardly explored. Here, we introduce a mononuclear Ru(bda) complex (M1, bda: 2,2’-bipyridine-6,6’-dicarboxylate) equipped with a bipyridine-functionalized ligand to preorganize H\(_2\)O molecules in front of the metal center as in enzymatic clefts. The confined pocket of M1 accelerates chemically driven water oxidation at pH 1 by facilitating a water nucleophilic attack pathway with a remarkable turnover frequency of 140 s\(^{−1}\) that is comparable to the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II. Single crystal X-ray analysis of M1 under catalytic conditions allowed the observation of a 7th H\(_2\)O ligand directly coordinated to a RuIII center. Via a well-defined hydrogen-bonding network, another H\(_2\)O substrate is preorganized for the crucial O–O bond formation via nucleophilic attack.
KW  - water oxidation
KW  - enzyme
KW  - catalysis
KW  - molecular
KW  - catalyst synthesis
KW  - catalytic mechanisms
KW  - homogeneous catalysis
KW  - photocatalysis
KW  - supramolecular chemistry
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-302897
N1  - This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use (https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-manuscript-terms), but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00843-x
ET  - accepted version
ER  - 
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  -