Catalytic water splitting for the purpose of generating solar fuels has been a topic of intense research over the past decade. Recently a family of non-heme Fe based water oxidation catalysts was reported to function with both Ce(IV) and sodium periodate as sacrificial oxidants.1 The species involved in catalysis has been the subject of debate, with nanoparticles found to form under alkaline conditions.2 In addition it has been suggested that dinuclear iron species are responsible for the observed catalysis.3 Little attention has been paid to the insight obtainable when the catalysts are driven with sodium periodate, however. We report that FeTPA and FeBPyA remain homogeneous when driven with sodium periodate, and report on their decomposition pathways. In addition we find that both the mononuclear and dinuclear complexes are active for water oxidation.1Lloret-Fillol, J. et al., Nat. Chem.(2011) 807.2Chen, G. et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2013) 1789.3Najafpour, M. et al., Cata. Sci. Technol., (2013) 30.

Species involved in water oxidation by non-heme iron complexes when driven with sodium periodate

248th National Meeting (2014)

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