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Ascorbate as an electron relay between an irreversible electron donor and Ru(II) or Re(I) photosensitizers
Cyril Bachmann1, Benjamin Probst, Miguel Guttentag
1Department of Chemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. ariel@chem.uzh.ch.
Abstract:
Ascorbate acts as a reversible electron shuttle between tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP) and Re(I) or Ru(II) photosensitizers. Oxidized ascorbate is recycled up to 50 times by the TCEP → TCEP[double bond, length as m-dash]O redox process which enables 30 000 TONs per WRC in photocatalytic hydrogen production, thus exceeding the performance with pure ascorbate by far.
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