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  - Hoche, Joscha
A1  - Schulz, Alexander
A1  - Dietrich, Lysanne Monika
A1  - Humeniuk, Alexander
A1  - Stolte, Matthias
A1  - Schmidt, David
A1  - Brixner, Tobias
A1  - Würthner, Frank
A1  - Mitric, Roland
T1  - The origin of the solvent dependence of fluorescence quantum yields in dipolar merocyanine dyes
JF  - Chemical Science
N2  - Fluorophores with high quantum yields are desired for a variety of applications. Optimization of promising chromophores requires an understanding of the non-radiative decay channels that compete with the emission of photons. We synthesized a new derivative of the famous laser dye 4-dicyanomethylen-2-methyl-6-p-dimethylaminostyryl-4H-pyran (DCM),i.e., merocyanine 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-tert-butyl-6-[3-(3-butyl-benzothiazol-2-ylidene)1-propenyl]-4H-pyran   (DCBT).   We   measured fluorescence lifetimes and quantum yields in a variety of solvents and found a trend opposite to the energy gap law.This motivated a theoretical investigation into the possible non-radiative decay channels. We propose that a barrier to a conical intersection exists that is very sensitive to the solvent polarity. The conical intersection is characterized by a twisted geometry which allows a subsequent photoisomerization. Transient absorption measurements confirmed the formation of a photoisomer in unpolar solvents, while the measurements of fluorescence quantum yields at low temperature demonstrated the existence of an activation energy barrier.
KW  - solvent-dependent fluorescence yield
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198707
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05012D
VL  - 10
ER  -