The earth’s nonrenewable fuel sources are being depleted, and therefore, renewable alternatives, such as hydrogen fuel generated using solar energy, are becoming more attractive. Increasing the efficiency of hydrogen production is crucial, but achieving this requires an understanding of how metal-containing catalysts produce hydrogen. Rhodium pentamethylcyclopentadienyl (Cp*) complexes with bidentate bipyridine ligands have been shown to be proficient catalysts for hydrogen production. However, rhodium complexes with analogous bisphosphine ligands have proven much less active. To date, this discrepancy is poorly understood. Therefore, further synthetic work is needed to clarify the role of the ligand environment on hydrogen evolution. This summer, we have investigated the use of a bidentate ligand with both a nitrogen donor and a phosphorus donor, the previously reported 2-[(Diphenylphosphino)methyl]pyridine ligand. We generated a novel Cp*Rh complex bearing this ligand; the complex was synthesized by a three step procedure from commercial rhodium(III) chloride and was characterized using various spectroscopic techniques. The properties, redox behavior, and catalytic activity of our novel complex will be discussed.

Synthesis of new rhodium catalysts for mechanistic investigation of dihydrogen<sub> </sub>evolution

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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Synthesis of new rhodium catalysts for mechanistic investigation of dihydrogen evolution

Synthesis of new rhodium catalysts for mechanistic investigation of dihydrogenevolution