Visible-light driven hydrogen production using chlorophyll derivatives conjugated with a viologen moiety in the presence of platinum nanoparticles.

The utilization of the light-harvesting and electron-transferring function of chlorophylls (Chls) has received attention for visible-light driven hydrogen production. In this work, a series of Chl derivatives based on pyropheophorbide-a (Pyro-a) conjugated with a viologen moiety, including a Pyro-a methyl ester directly bonded with the viologen at the 3-position 1, its 31-methylene analog 2 and Pyro-a connected with the viologen in the 17-substituent 3, were synthesized from chemical modification of naturally occurring Chl-a and characterized in terms of their photochemical and photophysical properties. As the photoexcited singlet state of the Pyro-a moiety was strongly quenched by the viologen moiety in a molecule, the effective photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer from Pyro-a to the bonded viologen moiety occurred. Moreover, these molecules were applied as a photosensitizer in the system for visible-light driven hydrogen production with platinum nanoparticles via intramolecular reduction of the bonded viologen moiety. Efficient photoreduction of external methyl viologen and successive hydrogen production on platinum nanoparticles were achieved using the synthetic conjugate of Pyro-a with the viologen moiety as a photosensitizer. In particular, effective visible-light driven hydrogen production was accomplished using 3 and platinum nanoparticles via the reduction of external methyl viologen.

Development of a dye molecule-biocatalyst hybrid system with visible-light induced carbon-carbon bond formation from CO2 as a feedstock.

Recently, CO2 utilization technology, including artificial photosynthesis, has received much attention. In this field, CO2 is used as a feedstock for fuels, polymers and in other chemical processes. Of note are malic enzymes (MEs) which catalyze the reaction of malic acid to pyruvic acid and CO2 with the co-enzyme NADP+, and catalyze the reverse reaction of pyruvic acid and CO2 to malic acid with the co-enzyme NADPH. Thus, MEs are also an attractive biocatalyst for carbon-carbon bond formation from CO2. Studies of the visible light-induced malic acid production from pyruvic acid and CO2 using an electron donor, a photosensitizer, an electron mediator, ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase, NADP+, and ME have been reported. However, modification of these systems is required, as they are very complicated. In this study, the visible light-induced carbon-carbon bond formation from pyruvic acid and CO2 with ME using the photoreduction of 1,1'-diphenyl-4,4'-bipyridinium salt derivatives as a novel electron mediator with water-soluble tetraphenylporphyrin tetrasulfonate (H2TPPS) in the presence of triethanolamine (TEOA) as an electron donor was developed. When a sample solution containing TEOA, H2TPPS, 1,1'-diphenyl-4,4'-bipyridinium salt derivative, pyruvic acid, and ME in CO2-saturated bis-tris buffer was irradiated, the major product was oxaloacetic acid. Thus, a visible light-induced photoredox system for carbon-carbon bond formation from CO2 with ME using 1,1'-diphenyl-4,4'-bipyridinium salt derivative as an electron mediator was developed.