Symmetrical Hydrogen Bonds in Iridium(III) Alkoxides with Relevance to Outer Sphere Hydrogen Transfer

Electrochemical and Kinetic Insights into Molecular Water Oxidation Catalysts Derived from Cp*Ir(pyridine-alkoxide) Complexes

We report the solution-phase electrochemistry of seven half-sandwich iridium(III) complexes with varying pyridine-alkoxide ligands to quantify electronic ligand effects that translate to their activity in catalytic water oxidation. Our results unify some previously reported electrochemical data of Cp*Ir complexes by showing how the solution speciation determines the electrochemical response: cationic complexes show over 1 V higher redox potentials that their neutral forms in a distinct demonstration of charge accumulation effects relevant to water oxidation. Building on previous work that analysed the activation behaviour of our pyalk-ligated Cp*Ir complexes 1-7, we assess their catalytic oxygen evolution activity with sodium periodate (NaIO4) and ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) in water and aqueous tBuOH solution. Mechanistic studies including H/D kinetic isotope effects and reaction progress kinetic analysis (RPKA) of oxygen evolution point to a dimer-monomer equilibrium of the IrIV resting state preceding a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) in the turnover-limiting step (TLS). Finally, true electrochemically driven water oxidation is demonstrated for all catalysts, revealing surprising trends in activity that do not correlate with those obtained using chemical oxidants.

Redox Activity of Oxo-Bridged Iridium Dimers in an N,O-Donor Environment: Characterization of Remarkably Stable Ir(IV,V) Complexes

Chemical and electrochemical oxidation or reduction of our recently reported Ir(IV,IV) mono-μ-oxo dimers results in the formation of fully characterized Ir(IV,V) and Ir(III,III) complexes. The Ir(IV,V) dimers are unprecedented and exhibit remarkable stability under ambient conditions. This stability and modest reduction potential of 0.99 V vs NHE is in part attributed to complete charge delocalization across both Ir centers. Trends in crystallographic bond lengths and angles shed light on the structural changes accompanying oxidation and reduction. The similarity of these mono-μ-oxo dimers to our Ir "blue solution" water-oxidation catalyst gives insight into potential reactive intermediates of this structurally elusive catalyst. Additionally, a highly reactive material, proposed to be a Ir(V,V) μ-oxo species, is formed on electrochemical oxidation of the Ir(IV,V) complex in organic solvents at 1.9 V vs NHE. Spectroelectrochemistry shows reversible conversion between the Ir(IV,V) and proposed Ir(V,V) species without any degradation, highlighting the exceptional oxidation resistance of the 2-(2-pyridinyl)-2-propanolate (pyalk) ligand and robustness of these dimers. The Ir(III,III), Ir(IV,IV) and Ir(IV,V) redox states have been computationally studied both with DFT and multiconfigurational calculations. The calculations support the stability of these complexes and provide further insight into their electronic structures.

Catalytic applications of magnetic nanoparticles functionalized using iridium N-heterocyclic carbene complexes

The development of a synthetic modular methodology for the preparation of catalytic materials based on magnetic nanoparticles with iridium complexes and their application to transfer hydrogenation.