The sun is a viable source of renewable energy; therefore methods of converting sunlight into useful energy are being sought. One method of achieving this is through mimicking photosynthesis and designing systems that harvest solar energy and convert it to redox potentials to both oxidize water and drive hydrogen production. There has been research done on light driven water oxidation systems that consist of sensitizer dyes, such as porphyrins, coupled to water oxidation catalysts.1 Porphyrins with the necessary redox potentials are therefore being investigated for use as dyes in these systems. In order to design efficient artificial photosynthetic systems it is important to understand the process of the generation of a long lived charge separated state. Porphyrin-based systems are also valuable for studies of this type. Through the development of a new synthetic method, a porphyrin with cyano substituents at four �-pyrrole positions (CyP) was prepared in our laboratory and was found to have the necessary potentials and properties to be used as a sensitizer in light driven water oxidation. It was also determined that a CyP could be used as a strong electron acceptor to study long lived charge separated states in a novel compound which is currently being developed. The synthetic method for the synthesis of a CyP with the necessary functional groups to anchor to both a semiconductor and a water oxidation catalyst is also being developed.1. Gust, D.; Moore, T.; Moore, A. Accounts of Chemical Research 2009, 42, 12

Synthesis of a high potential porphyrin for use in light driven water oxidation and in a novel electron transfer system

247th National Meeting (2014)

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