Electron reduction, cobalt complexes

Of special Interest as O2 reduction electrocatalysts are the transition metal macrocycles In the form of layers adsorptlvely attached, chemically bonded or simply physically deposited on an electrode substrate Some of these complexes catalyze the 4-electron reduction of O2 to H2O or 0H while others catalyze principally the 2-electron reduction to the peroxide and/or the peroxide elimination reactions. Various situ spectroscopic techniques have been used to examine the state of these transition metal macrocycle layers on carbon, graphite and metal substrates under various electrochemical conditions. These techniques have Included (a) visible reflectance spectroscopy (b) laser Raman spectroscopy, utilizing surface enhanced Raman scattering and resonant Raman and (c) Mossbauer spectroscopy. This paper will focus on principally the cobalt and Iron phthalocyanlnes and porphyrins. 

A number of metal porphyrins have been examined as electrocatalysts for H20 reduction to H2. Cobalt complexes of water soluble masri-tetrakis(7V-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride, meso-tetrakis(4-pyridyl)porphyrin, and mam-tetrakis(A,A,A-trimethylamlinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride have been shown to catalyze H2 production via controlled potential electrolysis at relatively low overpotential (—0.95 V vs. SCE at Hg pool in 0.1 M in fluoroacetic acid), with nearly 100% current efficiency.12 Since the electrode kinetics appeared to be dominated by porphyrin adsorption at the electrode surface, H2-evolution catalysts have been examined at Co-porphyrin films on electrode surfaces.13,14 These catalytic systems appeared to be limited by slow electron transfer or poor stability.13 However, CoTPP incorporated into a Nafion membrane coated on a Pt electrode shows high activity for H2 production, and the catalysis takes place at the theoretical potential of H+/H2.14... 

It has been recently demonstrated that the simplest of the cobalt porphyrins (Co porphine) adsorbed on a pyrolytic graphite electrode is also an efficient electrocatalyst for reduction of 02 into 1120.376 The catalytic activity was attributed to the spontaneous aggregation of the complex on the electrode surface to produce a structure in which the cobalt-cobalt separation is small enough to bridge and activate 02 molecules. The stability of the catalyst is quite poor and largely improved by using porphyrin rings with mew-substitu-tion.377-380 Flowever, as the size of the mew-substituents increases the four-electron reduction efficiency decreases. 

In contrast to Co-porphyrin complexes, the direct four-electron reduction of 02 has been only very rarely claimed to be catalyzed by a cobalt phthalocyanine 404 407 In particular cofadal binuclear Co-Pc complexes immobilized on pyrolytic graphite catalyze only the two-electron electroreduction of 02 to H202.408,409 However, recent work has established that an electropolymerized Co-Pc derivative provides a stable four-electron reduction pathway over a wide pH range 410... 

The carbon dioxide anion-radical was used for one-electron reductions of nitrobenzene diazo-nium cations, nitrobenzene itself, quinones, aliphatic nitro compounds, acetaldehyde, acetone and other carbonyl compounds, maleimide, riboflavin, and certain dyes (Morkovnik and Okhlobystin 1979). The double bonds in maleate and fumarate are reduced by CO2. The reduced products, on being protonated, give rise to succinate (Schutz and Meyerstein 2006). The carbon dioxide anion-radical reduces organic complexes of Co and Ru into appropriate complexes of the metals(II) (Morkovnik and Okhlobystin 1979). In particular, after the electron transfer from this anion radical to the pentammino-p-nitrobenzoato-cobalt(III) complex, the Co(III) complex with thep-nitrophenyl anion-radical fragment is initially formed. The intermediate complex transforms into the final Co(II) complex with the p-nitrobenzoate ligand. 

Scheme 6.27 considers other, formally confined, conformers of cycloocta-l,3,5,7-tetraene (COT) in complexes with metals. In the following text, M(l,5-COT) and M(l,3-COT) stand for the tube and chair structures, respectively. M(l,5-COT) is favored in neutral (18-electron) complexes with nickel, palladium, cobalt, or rhodium. One-electron reduction transforms these complexes into 19-electron forms, which we can identify as anion-radicals of metallocomplexes. Notably, the anion-radicals of the nickel and palladium complexes retain their M(l,5-COT) geometry in both the 18- and 19-electron forms. When the metal is cobalt or rhodium, transition in the 19-electron form causes quick conversion of M(l,5-COT) into M(l,3-COT) form (Shaw et al. 2004, reference therein). This difference should be connected with the manner of spin-charge distribution. The nickel and palladium complexes are essentially metal-based anion-radicals. In contrast, the SOMO is highly delocalized in the anion-radicals of cobalt and rhodium complexes, with at least half of the orbital residing in the COT ring. For this reason, cyclooctateraene flattens for a while and then acquires the conformation that is more favorable for the spatial structure of the whole complex, namely, M(l,3-COT) (see Schemes 6.1 and 6.27). 

Dicobalt species have also been shown to result in cobalt s possessing characteristically unstable oxidation states. A binary cofacial dicobalt porphyrin species has been shown to undergo a pair of one-electron oxidation steps as well as a pair of one-electron reduction steps [49] the two cobalt centers behave essentially independently of one another, so that mixed-valence complexes can be generated. Brooker and coworkers [50] investigated a pyridazine Schiff-base macrocycle with two cobalt centers (4), each of which could undergo a separate one-electron oxidation or reduction to produce a species capable of existing in five different combinations of redox states. Most interesting about this complex is the formation of cobalt... 

In a fashion similar to that of cobalt salen, distinct redox chemistry can be observed for each of the two cobalt centers of (28). Coulometric studies showed that the complex can undergo a one-electron reduction as well as a one-electron oxidation of each cobalt center and that there is no interaction between those cobalt centers. Thus, the two metal centers can be used as separate catalytic sites for the reduction of halogenated organic compounds. In the same article [147] is a hst of literature citations of work done over the past 20 years by the group of Hisaeda on the catalytic behavior of electroreduced vitamin B12 derivatives. 

Fig. 18. Face-to-face bis-porphyrino-cobalt complex catalyzing four-electron reduction of oxygen.

In contrast to the stepwise reduction of [Fe4S4(NO)4], [Fe4Se4(N0)4], and the heterometallic cubanes 19 and 21, cyclic voltammetry of the diiron complex [Fe2(TePh)2(NO)4] showed (52) a single reversible two-electron wave corresponding to reduction to [Fe2(TePh)2(NO)4]2, salts of which were subsequently isolated by chemical reduction. This dianion is a 36-electron species, and hence is isoelectronic with the neutral cobalt complexes [Co2(SR)2(NO)4] (26) it thus lacks an Fe-Fe bond. 

Reductive decarboxylation of (20) yields C02, H+, and a Co(I) species at a measurable rate (94). In the presence of CO, the starting cobalt complex is regenerated, and a catalytic system for the oxidation of CO by ferricyanide is established. It is significant that in this system the metal-carbonyl bond is formed when the cobalt is in a reduced state. It is the subsequent oxidation of the cobalt by electron transfer that activated the carbonyl to attack by water or hydroxide. That this activation results in a weaker metal-carbonyl bond is evident since the Co(III)-carbonyl may be hydrolyzed in acidic solution with loss of the carbon monoxide ligand (94). 

This type of complex is derived from the mononuclear superoxo species via a further one-electron reduction of the dioxygen moiety. Cobalt is the only metal to form these complexes by reaction with dioxygen in the absence of a ligating porphyrin ring. Molybdenum and zirconium form peroxo-bridged complexes on reaction with hydrogen peroxide. In most cases the mononuclear dioxygen adducts of cobalt will react further to form the binuclear species unless specific steps are taken to prevent this. 

Several macrocyclic ligands are shown in Figure 2. The porphyrin and corrin ring systems are well known, the latter for the cobalt-containing vitamin Bi2 coenzymes. Of more recent interest are the hydroporphyrins. Siroheme (an isobacteriochlorin) is the prosthetic group of the sulfite and nitrite reductases which catalyze the six-electron reductions of sulfite and nitrite to H2S and NH3 respectively. The demetallated form of siroheme, sirohydrochlorin, is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of vitamin Bi2, and so links the porphyrin and corrin macrocycles. Factor 430 is a tetrahydroporphyrin, and as its nickel complex is the prosthetic group of methyl coenzyme M reductase. F430 shows structural similarities to both siroheme and corrin. 

The reduction behaviour of the alkylidene adduct of a cobalt-dithiolene complex (423) has been examined548 and the study has shown that, when the alkylidene-bridged structure (423) is reduced by one electron, it isomerizes rapidly and quantitatively to the ylide form (424). This represents the first example of reversible isomerization of the metal-carbon bond in a cobaltadithiolene complex. A surprising cis- to tra .s-dihydride isomerization which is unprecedented for 18-electron six-coordinate complexes has been observed549 in an octahedral iridium-c7.y-di hydride complex. 

On the reduction side the behavior of the two complexes becomes different cobalt shows two one-electron reductions, the first one being irreversible and the second reversible at all scan rates, while rhodium exhibits an irreversible two-electron reduction associated with two reoxidation peaks. 

A chromophore such as the quinone, ruthenium complex, C(,o. or viologen is covalently introduced at the terminal of the heme-propionate side chain(s) (94-97). For example, Hamachi et al. (98) appended Ru2+(bpy)3 (bpy = 2,2 -bipyridine) at one of the terminals of the heme-propionate (Fig. 26) and monitored the photoinduced electron transfer from the photoexcited ruthenium complex to the heme-iron in the protein. The reduction of the heme-iron was monitored by the formation of oxyferrous species under aerobic conditions, while the Ru(III) complex was reductively quenched by EDTA as a sacrificial reagent. In addition, when [Co(NH3)5Cl]2+ was added to the system instead of EDTA, the photoexcited ruthenium complex was oxidatively quenched by the cobalt complex, and then one electron is abstracted from the heme-iron(III) to reduce the ruthenium complex (99). As a result, the oxoferryl species was detected due to the deprotonation of the hydroxyiron(III)-porphyrin cation radical species. An extension of this work was the assembly of the Ru2+(bpy)3 complex with a catenane moiety including the cyclic bis(viologen)(100). In the supramolecular system, vectorial electron transfer was achieved with a long-lived charge separation species (f > 2 ms). 

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