Highly active and tunable catalysts for O2 evolution from water based on mononuclear ruthenium(ii) monoaquo complexes

Abstract

The catalytic activity of [Ru(tpy)(bpy)OH₂]²⁺ (tpy = 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine and bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine) increased by a 4′-substituted ethoxy group on the tpy ligand by more than one order of magnitude to give 1.1 × 10⁻¹s⁻¹ of catalyst turnover frequency, which is comparable with the hitherto-reported champion data.