Thiophene Functionalized Porphyrin for Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction

The production of catalysts that display strong efficiencies in aqueous media for the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) is essential both for a healthy world and for realistic application of energy waste to generate value-added fuels. In this study, thiophene functionalized metal-free (poly-H2Por) and cobalt porphyrin-based (poly-CoPor) organometallic catalysts were easily attached on the pencil graphite electrode surface via electrochemical polymerization method and these, porphyrin coated, pencil graphite electrodes (PGE) were used as electrocatalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction for the first time in the literature. To reveal the electrochemical activity of CO2RR, the electropolymerized catalysts were investigated with linear sweep voltammetry in 0.1 M KHCO3 solution. The results showed that, the electrode which is modified with poly-CoPor decreased the overpotential of CO2RR, according to bare pencil graphite electrode, from -1.35 V to -0.63 V.

Cationic yet Stronger Donor: A Surprising Partner Effect and the Partner Strategy in Accelerating a Pincer-Co Catalyzed Nitrile Hydroboration Reaction

A strategy to tune the catalytic behavior of a organometallic catalysts rather than ligand engineering is suggested in this work, by computationally studying the effect of (18-crown-6)K+, W(CO)3 and W(PMe3)3 on the reactivity of a Pincer-Co catalyzed nitrile hydroboration reaction through π-coordination to the ligand aromatic ring. These extra additives, as called by the partners, binds the central phenyl ring of the ligand by either dispersion or chemical bonding. The electron-richness of the cobalt center is tuned by the partner, and follows the order (18-crown-6)K+ > W(PMe3)3 > no partner > W(CO)3. While the influence of covalent W-containing partners parallels the electron-richness of W, the non-covalent partner, (18-crown-6)K+, surprisingly increases the donor ability of the Pincer ligand, through polarization effect. All the elementary steps involved in the nitrile hydroboration reaction are influenced by the partner, and the overall barrier is lowered by a surprisingly large extent of 4.9 kcal/mol in the presence of (18-crown-6)K+, suggesting a charming partner effect to be explored by experimentalists that the reactivity of a catalyst can be consecutively tuned without ligand modification.

Computational Investigation of the Role of Active Site Heterogeneity for a Supported Organovanadium(III) Hydrogenation Catalyst

<div> <div> <p></p><p><a>A crucial consideration for supported heterogeneous catalysts is the non-uniformity of the active sites, particularly for Supported Organometallic Catalysts (SOMCs). Standard spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), reflect the nature of the most populated sites, which are often intrinsically structurally distinct from the most catalytically active sites. With computational models, often only a few representative structures are used to depict catalytic active sites on a surface, even though there are numerous observable factors of surface heterogeneity that contribute to the kinetically favorable active species. A previously reported study on the mechanism of a surface organovanadium(III) catalyst [(SiO)V^III(Mes)(THF)] for styrene hydrogenation yielded two possible mechanisms: heterolytic cleavage and redox cycling. These two mechanistic scenarios are challenging to differentiate experimentally based on the kinetic readouts of the catalyst are identical. To showcase the importance of modeling surface heterogeneity and its effect on catalytic activity, density functional theory (DFT) computational models of a series of potential active sites of [(SiO)V^III(Mes)(THF)] for the reaction pathways are applied in combination with kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations. Computed results were t then compared to the previously reported experimental kinetic study</a><a>.: 1) DFT free energy reaction pathways indicated the likely active site and pathway for styrene hydrogenation; a heterolytic cleavage pathway requiring a bare tripodal vanadium site. 2) From the kMC simulations, a mixture of the different bond lengths from the support oxygen to the metal center was required to qualitatively describe the experimentally observed kinetic aspects of a supported organovanadium(III) catalyst for olefin hydrogenation. </a>This work underscores the importance of modeling surface heterogeneity in computational catalysis.</p><p></p></div></div>

Computational Investigation of the Role of Active Site Heterogeneity for a Supported Organovanadium(III) Hydrogenation Catalyst

<div> <div> <p></p><p><a>A crucial consideration for supported heterogeneous catalysts is the non-uniformity of the active sites, particularly for Supported Organometallic Catalysts (SOMCs). Standard spectroscopic techniques, such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), reflect the nature of the most populated sites, which are often intrinsically structurally distinct from the most catalytically active sites. With computational models, often only a few representative structures are used to depict catalytic active sites on a surface, even though there are numerous observable factors of surface heterogeneity that contribute to the kinetically favorable active species. A previously reported study on the mechanism of a surface organovanadium(III) catalyst [(SiO)V^III(Mes)(THF)] for styrene hydrogenation yielded two possible mechanisms: heterolytic cleavage and redox cycling. These two mechanistic scenarios are challenging to differentiate experimentally based on the kinetic readouts of the catalyst are identical. To showcase the importance of modeling surface heterogeneity and its effect on catalytic activity, density functional theory (DFT) computational models of a series of potential active sites of [(SiO)V^III(Mes)(THF)] for the reaction pathways are applied in combination with kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations. Computed results were t then compared to the previously reported experimental kinetic study</a><a>.: 1) DFT free energy reaction pathways indicated the likely active site and pathway for styrene hydrogenation; a heterolytic cleavage pathway requiring a bare tripodal vanadium site. 2) From the kMC simulations, a mixture of the different bond lengths from the support oxygen to the metal center was required to qualitatively describe the experimentally observed kinetic aspects of a supported organovanadium(III) catalyst for olefin hydrogenation. </a>This work underscores the importance of modeling surface heterogeneity in computational catalysis.</p><p></p></div></div>