High catalytic methane oxidation activity of monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer with sixteen methyl groups

Hierarchical Nanostructures of Iron Phthalocyanine Nanowires Coated on Nickel Foam as Catalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

In this paper, iron phthalocyanine nanowires on a nickel foam (FePc@NF) composite catalyst were prepared by a facile solvothermal approach. The catalyst showed good electrochemical oxygen evolution performance. In 1.0 M KOH electrolyte, 289 mV low overpotential and 49.9 mV dec-1 Tafel slope were seen at a current density of 10 mA cm-2. The excellent electrochemical performance comes from the homogeneous dispersion of phthalocyanine nanostructures on the surface of the nickel foam, which avoids the common agglomeration problem of such catalysts and provides a large number of active sites for the OER reaction, thus improving the catalytic performance of the system.

Effect of porphyrin ligands on the catalytic CH4 oxidation activity of monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphyrinoid dimers by using H2O2 as an oxidant

The μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine homodimer is a potent molecule-based CH4 oxidation catalyst that can effectively oxidize chemically stable CH4 under mild reaction conditions in an acidic aqueous solution including an oxidant such as H2O2. The reactive intermediate is a high-valent iron-oxo species generated upon reaction with H2O2. However, a detailed comparison of the CH4 oxidation activity of the μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer with those of μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphyrinoid dimers containing one or two porphyrin ring(s) has not been yet reported, although porphyrins are the most important class of porphyrinoids. Herein, we compare the catalytic CH4 and CH3CH3 oxidation activities of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphyrin homodimer and a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged heterodimer of an iron porphyrin and an iron phthalocyanine with those of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine homodimer in an acidic aqueous solution containing H2O2 as an oxidant. It was demonstrated that the CH4 oxidation activities of monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphyrinoid dimers containing porphyrin ring(s) were much lower than that of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine homodimer. These findings suggested that the difference in the electronic structure of the porphyrinoid rings of monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphyrinoid dimers strongly affected their catalytic light alkane oxidation activities.

Stacking of a Cofacially Stacked Iron Phthalocyanine Dimer on Graphite Achieved High Catalytic CH4 Oxidation Activity Comparable to That of pMMO

Numerous biomimetic molecular catalysts inspired by methane monooxygenases (MMOs) that utilize iron or copper-oxo species as key intermediates have been developed. However, the catalytic methane oxidation activities of biomimetic molecule-based catalysts are still much lower than those of MMOs. Herein, we report that the close stacking of a μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer onto a graphite surface is effective in achieving high catalytic methane oxidation activity. The activity is almost 50 times higher than that of other potent molecule-based methane oxidation catalysts and comparable to those of certain MMOs, in an aqueous solution containing H₂O₂. It was demonstrated that the graphite-supported μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer oxidized methane, even at room temperature. Electrochemical investigation and density functional theory calculations suggested that the stacking of the catalyst onto graphite induced partial charge transfer from the reactive oxo species of the μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer and significantly lowered the singly occupied molecular orbital level, thereby facilitating electron transfer from methane to the catalyst in the proton-coupled electron-transfer process. The cofacially stacked structure is advantageous for stable adhesion of the catalyst molecule on the graphite surface in the oxidative reaction condition and for preventing decreases in the oxo-basicity and generation rate of the terminal iron-oxo species. We also demonstrated that the graphite-supported catalyst exhibited appreciably enhanced activity under photoirradiation owing to the photothermal effect.

Direct catalytic benzene hydroxylation under mild reaction conditions by using a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer with 16 peripheral methyl groups

Direct catalytic benzene hydroxylation under mild reaction conditions was achieved using a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer with 16 peripheral methyl groups.

Synthesis of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphycene dimer and its methane oxidation activity

Herein, we report the synthesis of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphycene dimer, a structural analogue of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer, which is known to be one of the most potent molecule-based catalysts for methane oxidation. ¹H-NMR and single-crystal X-ray structural analyses showed that the porphycene complex includes two Fe(IV) ions, and the structure around the Fe-NFe core is quite similar to that of the monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer. Although methane was oxidized into MeOH, HCHO, and HCOOH in the presence of a silica-supported catalyst of this monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphycene dimer in an acidic aqueous solution containing excess H₂O₂, its reactive intermediate was not a high-valence iron-oxo species, as in the case of a monocationic μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer, but ˙OH. It is suggested that the high-valent iron-oxo species of the μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphycene dimer was gradually decomposed under these reaction conditions, and the decomposed compound catalyzed a Fenton-type reaction. This result indicates that the stability of the oxo-species is indispensable for achieving high catalytic methane oxidation activity using a μ-nitrido-bridged iron porphyrinoid dimer with an Fe-NFe core as a catalyst.