Eric V. Johnston

Photosensitized water oxidation by use of a bioinspired manganese catalyst

In an artificial version of photosynthesis, sunlight and water are used to produce fuels. Our research focuses on the bottleneck in this process, the photooxidation of water. In the course of developing a water oxidation catalyst, a number of metal complexes have been synthesised, characterised, and studied for catalytic activity. Three of them are dinuclear complexes (Ru, Co and Cu) of 2,6-bis[(2-hydroxybenzyl)-(2-pyridylmethyl)aminomethyl]-4-methylphenol (H3bbpmp). The fourth is a dimeric Ru complex with a ligand containing imidazole and phenol motifs. Additionally, a dinuclear Mn complex with a ligand that contains benzimidazoles and carboxylates coordinating to the metal atoms was also developed. This Mn complex was then covalently linked to [Ru(bpy)3]2+-type photosensitisers, resulting in three different bimetallic dyads. Finally, a dinuclear Fe complex containing the same ligand as the dinuclear Mn complex was synthesised.The potential of the three H3bbpmp complexes as catalysts for oxidation of organic compounds was investigated and it was found that the Ru complex catalyses the oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding ketone or aldehyde using (diacetoxyiodo)benzene as oxidant. The Co complex functions as an electron transfer mediator in a coupled catalytic system for allylic oxidation using oxygen gas. The oxidation of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol to the corresponding ortho-quinone with oxygen gas using the copper complex proved that it can be considered as a model of catecholase. The dimeric Ru complex and the dinuclear Mn and Fe complexes proved to catalyse water oxidation when employing stoichiometric amounts of the oxidant [Ru(bpy)3](PF6)3. Furthermore, using [Ru(bpy)2(deeb)](PF6)2 as photosensitiser together with Na2S2O8 as sacrificial electron acceptor in aqueous phosphate buffer at pH = 7.2, photochemical water oxidation was demonstrated. The bimetallic dyads however, did not show catalytic activity for the oxidation of water.

Artificial Photosynthesis: From Nanosecond Electron Transfer to Catalytic Water Oxidation

Human society faces a fundamental challenge as energy consumption is projected to increase due to population and economic growth as fossil fuel resources decrease. Therefore the transition to alternative and sustainable energy sources is of the utmost importance. The conversion of solar energy into chemical energy, by splitting H2O to generate molecular O2 and H2, could contribute to solving the global energy problem. Developing such a system will require the combination of several complicated processes, such as light-harvesting, charge separation, electron transfer, H2O oxidation, and reduction of the generated protons. The primary processes of charge separation and catalysis, which occur in the natural photosynthetic machinery, provide us with an excellent blueprint for the design of such systems. This Account describes our efforts to construct supramolecular assemblies capable of carrying out photoinduced electron transfer and to develop artificial water oxidation catalysts (WOCs). Early work in our group focused on linking a ruthenium chromophore to a manganese-based oxidation catalyst. When we incorporated a tyrosine unit into these supramolecular assemblies, we could observe fast intramolecular electron transfer from the manganese centers, via the tyrosine moiety, to the photooxidized ruthenium center, which clearly resembles the processes occurring in the natural system. Although we demonstrated multi-electron transfer in our artificial systems, the bottleneck proved to be the stability of the WOCs. Researchers have developed a number of WOCs, but the majority can only catalyze H2O oxidation in the presence of strong oxidants such as Ce(IV), which is difficult to generate photochemically. By contrast, illumination of ruthenium(II) photosensitizers in the presence of a sacrificial acceptor generates [Ru(bpy)3](3+)-type oxidants. Their oxidation potentials are significantly lower than that of Ce(IV), but our group recently showed that incorporating negatively charged groups into the ligand backbone could decrease the oxidation potential of the catalysts and, at the same time, decrease the potential for H2O oxidation. This permitted us to develop both ruthenium- and manganese-based WOCs that can operate under neutral conditions, driven by the mild oxidant [Ru(bpy)3](3+). Many hurdles to the development of viable systems for the production of solar fuels remain. However, the combination of important features from the natural photosynthetic machinery and novel artificial components adds insights into the complicated catalytic processes that are involved in splitting H2O.

Co-immobilization of an Enzyme and a Metal into the Compartments of Mesoporous Silica for Cooperative Tandem Catalysis : An Artificial Metalloenzyme

Surpassing nature: A hybrid catalyst in which Candida antarctica lipase B and a nanopalladium species are co-immobilized into the compartments of mesoporous silica is presented. The metal nanoparti ...

Water Oxidation by Single-Site Ruthenium Complexes : Using Ligands as Redox and Proton Transfer Mediators

Water Oxidation by Single-Site Ruthenium Complexes : Using Ligands as Redox and Proton Transfer Mediators

Highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles on mesocellular foam : an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for alcohol oxidation

Highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles on mesocellular foam : an efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for alcohol oxidation

Light-Induced Water Oxidation by a Ru complex Containing a Bio-Inspired Ligand

The new Ru complex 8 containing the bio-inspired ligand 7 was successfully synthesized and characterized. Complex 8 efficiently catalyzes water oxidation using Ce(IV) and Ru(III) as chemical oxidants. More importantly, this complex has a sufficiently low overpotential to utilize ruthenium polypyridyl-type complexes as photosensitizers.

Nanopalladium on Amino-Functionalized Mesocellular Foam : An Efficient Catalyst for Suzuki Reactions and Transfer Hydrogenations

The applications of a heterogeneous Pd0‐AmP‐MCF nanoparticle catalyst in Suzuki cross‐coupling reactions and transfer hydrogenations of alkenes are described. The catalyst was highly efficient for both transformations, resulting in 1) coupling of a wide range of aryl halides with various boronic acids in high yields and 2) chemoselective reduction of a variety of alkenes with the use of 1‐methyl‐1,4‐cyclohexadiene as hydrogen donor. Moreover, the catalyst can be recycled several times without any significant decrease in activity or leaching of metal into solution, making the protocol economical and environmentally friendly. In the case of the Suzuki cross‐coupling, a 15‐fold increase in reaction rate was observed if the reaction was performed under microwave irradiation compared to conventional heating in an oil bath.

Highly Enantioselective Cascade Transformations by Merging Heterogeneous Transition Metal Catalysis with Asymmetric Aminocatalysis

The concept of combining heterogeneous transition metal and amine catalysis for enantioselective cascade reactions has not yet been realized. This is of great advantage since it would allow for the recycling of expensive and non-environmentally friendly transition metals. We disclose that the use of a heterogeneous Pd-catalyst in combination with a simple chiral amine co-catalyst allows for highly enantioselective cascade transformations. The preparative power of this process has been demonstrated in the context of asymmetric cascade Michael/carbocyclization transformations that delivers cyclopentenes bearing an all carbon quaternary stereocenters in high yields with up to 30:1 dr and 99% ee. Moreover, a variety of highly enantioselective cascade hetero-Michael/carbocyclizations were developed for the one-pot synthesis of valuable dihydrofurans and pyrrolidines (up to 98% ee) by using bench-stable heterogeneous Pd and chiral amines as co-catalysts.

Enantioselective synthesis of (R)-bufuralol via dynamic kinetic resolution in the key step.

An enantioselective synthesis of (R)-bufuralol via a ruthenium- and enzyme-catalyzed dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) has been achieved. The synthesis starts from readily available 2-ethylphenol and provides (R)-bufuralol in high ee and a good overall yield of 31%.

Nanopalladium on Amino-Functionalized Mesocellular Foam as an Efficient and Recyclable Catalyst for the Selective Transfer Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes to Anilines

Herein, we report on the use of nanopalladium on amino‐functionalized siliceous mesocellular foam as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the transfer hydrogenation of nitroarenes to anilines. In all cases, the protocol proved to be highly selective and favored the formation of the desired aniline as the single product in high yields with short reaction times if naturally occurring and renewable γ‐terpinene was employed as the hydrogen donor. Furthermore, the catalyst displayed excellent recyclability over five cycles and negligible leaching of metal into solution, which makes it an eco‐friendly and economic catalyst to perform this transformation. The scalability of the protocol was demonstrated with the reduction of 4‐nitroanisole on a 2 g scale, in which p‐anisidine was isolated in 98 % yield.