1. Seth N. Brown, Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame
Probing the Articulation between Electron Transfer and Bond Cleavage Using Early Metal Complexes of Redox-Active Phenoxides
Seth N. Brown, Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame
The success of fuel cells depends on catalysts that can mediate between complex bond-breaking and -making events and the flow of electrons in an external circuit. We have prepared compounds where organic electron-transfer elements are linked via phenoxides to a titanium atom that binds to model fuels such as 1,2-diolates. Abstraction of electrons from the outer arms is indeed followed by C–C bond breaking as the substrate replenishes the removed electrons.
Removal of the electrons accelerates the rate of bond cleavage by a factor of over 100,000, indicating the potential viability of this strategy for fuel cell catalysis.