Photosystem II as a chemiluminescence-induced photosensitizer for photoelectrochemical biofuel cell-type biosensing system

Herein, photosystem II (PSII), extracted from spinach, is used for the first time as an efficient and green sensitizer for a photobioanode in a photoelectrochemical glucose biofuel cell (PBFC) setup. The concept is based on the formation of hemin-catalyzed luminol chemiluminescence (CL) after the enzymatic oxidation of glucose and the simultaneous production of hydrogen peroxide by glucose oxidase. The photosynthetic enzyme PSII, combined with an osmium polymer serving as mediator and photosensitizer, is immobilized and wired on microporous carbonaceous material (MC) for the chemiluminescence-induced oxidation of water to O₂ at the photobioanode (GCE|MC|Os polymer|PSII). Also, bilirubin oxidase immobilized on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) coated electrode (GCE|MWCNT|BOx) serves as a biocathode. The photoelectrochemical biofuel cell (PBFC) is applied to a biosensor model system to validate the appropriateness of such a bioanode operating in a self-powered mode. Os redox polymer attached to MCs provides abundant PSII immobilization and a reliable electron transfer pathway. The well-matching energy levels of photosensitive entities reduce recombination phenomena while MC enhances the charge collection. Substantial photocatalytic water oxidation was observed under CL due to the well-matched CL emission and PSII absorption. The electrode is rationally designed to gain the maximum luminol CL power for the photobioanode. The open circuit potential of PBFC linearly increased with the CL power intensity and, in turn, glucose concentrations in the range of 0-6 mmol L^-1. The PBFC yielded an OCP of 0.531 V in 30 mmolL^-1 glucose. The study may open a new horizon to the green and pioneering PEC biosensing realm.

Tuning the Photocatalytic Performance of Ruthenium(II) Polypyridine Complexes Via Ligand Modification for Visible-Light-Induced Phosphorylation of Tertiary Aliphatic Amines

Tuning the redox potential of commonly available photocatalyst to improve the catalytic performance or expand its scope for challenging synthetic conversions is an ongoing demand in synthetic chemistry. Herein, the excited state properties and redox potential of commercially available [Ru(bpy)₃ ]²⁺ photocatalyst were tuned by modifying the structure of the bipyridine ligands with electron-donating/withdrawing units. The visible-light-mediated photoredox phosphorylation of tertiary aliphatic amines was demonstrated under mild conditions. A series of cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions were performed employing the Ru^II complexes as photocatalyst giving the corresponding α-aminophosphinoxides and α-aminophosphonates via carbon-phosphorus (C-P) bond formation.

Ruthenium Complexes Bearing Axially Chiral Bipyridyls: The Mismatched Diastereomer Showed Red Circularly Polarized Phosphorescence

Ruthenium^II complexes bearing three axially chiral bipyridyl ligands were synthesized as a new family of chiral complex dyes, and Δ-(S)- and Λ-(S)-diastereomers were obtained. The X-ray crystal structure analyses, spectroscopy, and DFT calculations suggested that all the bipyridyls maintained chirality in both the ground and excited states, and the Δ-(S)- and Λ-(S)-isomers are the matched (more relaxed) and mismatched (more constrained) pairs, respectively. The mismatched Λ-(S)-isomer exhibited red circularly polarized phosphorescence (CPP) both in solution and in the solid state. The solution state CPP is the most intense of ruthenium complexes, while the solid state CPP is the first example of them. It is supposed that, for the Λ-(S)-isomer, the six cumulative CH/π interactions suppress further distortion in the T₁ state.

Electron Storage Capability and Singlet Oxygen Productivity of a RuII Photosensitizer Containing a Fused Naphthaloylenebenzene Moiety at the 1,10-Phenanthroline Ligand

As a novel rylene type dye a diimine ligand with a fully rigid and extended π-system in its backbone was prepared by directly fusing a 1,10-phenanthroline building block with 1,8-naphthalimide. The corresponding heteroleptic ruthenium photosensitizer bearing one biipo and two tbbpy ligands was synthesized and extensively analyzed by a combination of NMR, single crystal X-ray diffraction, steady-state absorption and emission, time-resolved spectroscopy and different electrochemical measurements supported by time-dependent density functional theory calculations. The cyclic and differential pulse voltammograms revealed, that the naphthaloylenebenzene moiety enables an additional second reduction of the ligand. Moreover, this ligand possesses a very broad absorption in the visible region. In the RuII complex this causes an overlap of ligand-centered and metal-to-ligand charge transfer transitions. The emission of the complex is clearly redshifted compared to the ligand emission with very long-lived excited states lifetimes of 1.7 and 24.7 μs in oxygen-free acetonitrile solution. This behavior is accompanied by a surprisingly high oxygen sensitivity. Finally, this photosensitizer was successfully applied for the effective evolution of singlet oxygen challenging some of the common RuII prototype complexes.

One-step synthesis of ball-shaped metal complexes with a main absorption band in the near-IR region

The design of near-IR materials is highly relevant to energy and pharmaceutical sciences due to the high proportion of near-IR irradiation in the solar spectrum and the high penetration of near-IR light in biological samples. Here, we show the one-step synthesis of hexacoordinated ruthenium and iron complexes that exhibit a main absorption band in the near-IR region. For that purpose, novel tridentate ligands were prepared by condensation of two diimines and four cyanoaryl derivatives in the presence of ruthenium and iron template ions. This method was applied to a wide variety of cyanoaryl, diimine, and metal ion combinations. The relationship between the structure and the optical and electrochemical properties in the resulting complexes was examined, and the results demonstrated that these compounds represent novel near-IR materials whose physical properties can be controlled based on rational design guidelines. The intense absorption bands in the 700–900 nm region were assigned to metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) transitions, which should allow applications in materials with triplet excited states under irradiation with near-IR light.

Delayed photoacidity produced through the triplet-triplet annihilation of a neutral pyranine derivative

A novel pyranine derivative, EtHPTA-OH, was synthesized via the substitution of the anionic sulfonate groups with neutral diethylsulfonamide groups. The photophysical and photochemical properties of EtHPTA-OH were studied using photoluminescence quenching and transient absorption spectroscopy. The singlet state of EtHPTA-OH was found to be highly photoacidic (pKa* = 8.74 in acetonitrile). A series of aniline and pyridine bases were used to investigate excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) from singlet EtHPTA-OH, and rate constants for singlet quenching via ESPT were determined (kq = 5.18 × 109 to 1.05 × 1010 M-1 s-1). EtHPTA-OH was also found to exhibit a long-lived triplet state which reacts through a triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) process to reform singlet EtHPTA-OH on timescales of up to 80 μs. Detection of ESPT photoproducts on timescales comparable to that of TTA singlet regeneration provides strong evidence for photoacidic behavior stemming from the regenerated singlet EtHPTA-OH.

Advances in Photocatalysis: A Microreview of Visible Light Mediated Ruthenium and Iridium Catalyzed Organic Transformations

Photocatalytic organic transformations utilizing ruthenium and iridium complexes have garnered significant attention due to the access they provide to new synthetic spaces through new reaction mechanisms. A survey of the photophysical data and the diversity of transformations that may be accomplished utilizing commercially available photocatalysts is contained herein.