Ruthenium (II) (terpyridine)(bipyridine) complexes have received significant attention in the field of homogenous water oxidation.  Meyer and coworkers have shown that replacing one pyridine group of the bipyridine ligand with an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) improves catalytic activity.1 It is our hypothesis that these complexes can be further improved upon by adding a pendent base to the remaining pyridine ring, which may mediate proton transfer in a water-nucleophilic attack (WNA) mechanism.  In addition, a pendant base may prevent the issue of catalyst deactivation by anation as proposed by Meyer's group.2  Also, proton-transferring ligands may help the complexes with alkane oxidation and allow easier synthesis of molecules that are important to biological systems and drug metabolism.  This presentation will discuss the synthesis, characterization, electrochemistry, and catalytic activity of these complexes towards oxidation of water and organic substrates.

Bifunctional catalysts for selective oxidation of water and organic substrates

248th National Meeting (2014)

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