Assessment of two cobalt(II) complexes with pincer ligands for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. A comparison of the SNS vs ONS coordination
作者:Mark A.W. Lawrence、Willem H. Mulder、Michael J. Celestine、Colin D. McMillen、Alvin A. Holder
DOI:10.1016/j.ica.2020.119497
日期:2020.6
Bis-N-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)pyridine-2,6-dicarbothioamide (pdcta) and N-(2,5- dimethoxypheny1)-6-1(2,5-dimethoxyphenyecarbamothioyllpyridine-2-carboxamide (pcta) were synthesized from a one pot mixture as pincer ligands. Crystals of pcta, grown from CDCl3 were structurally characterized, and found to crystallize in the space group P2(1)/c. The Co(II) complexes [Co(II)((kappa(3)-SNS-pdcta)(CH3CO2 )(H2O)] (1) and [Co(II)(kappa(3)-ONS-pcta) (CH3CO2 )(H2O)]center dot H2O (2) were prepared from the reaction of pdcta and pcta and Co(CH3CO2)(2)center dot H2O in ethanol at reflux under argon atmosphere. The identities of 1 and 2 were confirmed from their elemental analyses, ESI MS and a series of spectroscopic measurements. Both complexes displayed electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution with p-toluene sulfonic acid monohydrate in the presence and absence of bpy or PPh3 co-ligands. The hydrogen evolution occurred at moderate overpotentials (605-780) mV, with 1 giving better Faradaic efficiencies than 2 under all the conditions explored herein. Thermodynamic estimates, based on the reduction potentials, suggest that the homolytic pathway for the production of hydrogen from the Co-III-hydride species generated in the presence of the proton source, is more favourable than the heterolytic pathway in CH3CN.