Copper catalysts have emerged as earth-abundant systems capable of enabling reversible O-O bond formation. Lack of empirical fundamental knowledge of how water oxidation proceeds impedes mechanistic insights and rational ligand perturbation necessary to design efficient copper catalysts. In this presentation, we will detail a recent surprising discovery that the the Cu(II)-OH group is in fact hydritic, with a ΔG<sub>HYD</sub> of 121.8 kcal/mol. This finding is important because if the Cu(II)-OH is a weak hydride donor, then the Cu(IV)=O acceptor would be expected to be a very potent hydride abstractor. This insight would thus have significant ramifications beyond water oxidation in bioinorganic C-H bond activation. These insights will be discussed.

Copper(II)-hydroxide moiety is a weak hydride donor

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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