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Published on: October 5, 2019
Electrocatalytic Dihydrogen Production with a Robust Mesoionic Pyridylcarbene Cobalt Catalyst
Margarethe van der Meer1, Estelle Glais1, Inke Siewert2
1Institut für Chemie und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Fabeckstraße 34-36, 14195, Berlin (Germany).
Abstract:
A Co(III) complex with a mesoionic pyridylcarbene ligand is presented. This complex is an efficient electrocatalyst for H2 production at very low overpotential and high turnovers when using a (glassy carbon) GC electrode. The corresponding triazole complexes display no catalytic activity whatsoever under identical conditions. The remarkable robustness of the Co-C(carbene) bond towards acids is likely responsible for the high efficiency of this catalyst. The present results thus open new avenues for carbene-based ligands for generating functional models for hydrogenases.
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