Oxygen metal-containing macrocycles

Mossbauer spectroscopy may be important and useful when applied to electrodes which contain ferromagnetic components. It is basically an in situ tool which provides valuable information on possible orientation and oxidation states of ferromagnetic species in the electrodes as a function of the electrochemical process and the potential applied. For example, electrodes for oxygen reduction may be highly catalytic when containing macrocycles with transition metal cations such as Fez+, Niz+, Coz+ [89,90], A typical apparatus for this technique is described in Ref. 91. 

Hybrid calixfuran systems containing other heterocycles have also been utilized as the ligands for metal cations. The dianionic ligand derived from calix[2]furan[2]pyrrole 76 forms the cobalt complex 108 in the reaction with CoCl2(THF)i.5, the structure of which was established by X-ray analysis (Fig. 7) [47]. The Co-0 (furan) and Co-0 (THF) bond lengths are 2.302(4) and 2.242(5) A, respectively. There is a very weak Co-0 interaction between the cobalt center and the furan oxygen, and the macrocyclic ligand set masks a dicoordinate cobalt in the cavity. 

The strength of this bonding depends on the kind of ether Simple ethers form relatively weak complexes with metal ions but Charles J Pedersen of Du Pont discovered that cer tain polyethers form much more stable complexes with metal ions than do simple ethers Pedersen prepared a series of macrocyclic polyethers cyclic compounds contain mg four or more oxygens m a ring of 12 or more atoms He called these compounds crown ethers, because their molecular models resemble crowns Systematic nomencla ture of crown ethers is somewhat cumbersome and so Pedersen devised a shorthand description whereby the word crown is preceded by the total number of atoms m the ring and is followed by the number of oxygen atoms... 

Perspectives for fabrication of improved oxygen electrodes at a low cost have been offered by non-noble, transition metal catalysts, although their intrinsic catalytic activity and stability are lower in comparison with those of Pt and Pt-alloys. The vast majority of these materials comprise (1) macrocyclic metal transition complexes of the N4-type having Fe or Co as the central metal ion, i.e., porphyrins, phthalocyanines, and tetraazaannulenes [6-8] (2) transition metal carbides, nitrides, and oxides (e.g., FeCjc, TaOjcNy, MnOx) and (3) transition metal chalcogenide cluster compounds based on Chevrel phases, and Ru-based cluster/amorphous systems that contain chalcogen elements, mostly selenium. 

As it follows from Table 5, many catalysts contain metallic platinum. We have developed bi-layer porous hydrophobic air electrodes, which do not contain platinum metals, are active and can be cycled [24, 25] (Figures 4-6). These bifunctional catalysts are pyrolized Co - macrocyclic compounds. Said catalyst has high catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction and also features acceptable stability, however its activity for the oxygen evolution is not high enough. 

The symmetrical ring enniatin (304) forms a potassium complex (Figure 9.3) whose crystal structure indicates that the cation is contained in the macrocyclic cavity and is coordinated by the six carbonyl oxygen atoms which are orientated such that three lie above and three lie below the main plane of the molecule (Dobler, Dunitz Krajewski, 1969). Apart from those just discussed, it needs to be noted that a range of other structures of antibiotic molecules and their metal complexes have been determined (Hilgenfeld Saenger, 1982). 

Most of the catalysts employed in PEM and direct methanol fuel cells, DMFCs, are based on Pt, as discussed above. However, when used as cathode catalysts in DMFCs, Pt containing catalysts can become poisoned by methanol that crosses over from the anode. Thus, considerable effort has been invested in the search for both methanol resistant membranes and cathode catalysts that are tolerant to methanol. Two classes of catalysts have been shown to exhibit oxygen reduction catalysis and methanol resistance, ruthenium chalcogen based catalysts " " and metal macrocycle complexes, such as porphyrins or phthalocyanines. ... 

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