Excited state electron transfer after visible light absorption by the Co(I) state of vitamin B12.

The first example of excited state electron transfer from cob(I)alamin is reported herein. Vitamin B12 was anchored to a mesoporous TiO2 thin film and electrochemically reduced to the cob(I)alamin form. Pulsed laser excitation resulted in rapid excited state electron transfer, ket > 10(8) s(-1), followed by microsecond interfacial charge recombination to re-form cob(I)alamin. The supernucleophilic cob(I)alamin was found to be a potent photoreductant. The yield of excited state electron transfer was found to be excitation wavelength dependent. The implications of this dependence are discussed.

Ligand coordination and spin crossover in a nickel porphyrin anchored to mesoporous TiO2 thin films.

The coordination and spin equilibrium of a Ni(II) meso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin compound, NiP, was quantified both in fluid solution and when anchored to mesoporous, nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films. This comparison provides insights into the relative rate constants for excited-state injection and ligand field population. In the presence of pyridine, the spectroscopic data were consistent with the presence of equilibrium concentrations of a 4-coordinate low-spin S = 0 ((1)A1g) Ni(II) compound and a high-spin S = 1 ((3)B1g) 6-coordinate compound. Temperature-dependent equilibrium constants were consistently smaller for the surface-anchored NiP/TiO2, as were the absolute values of ΔH and ΔS. In the presence of diethylamine (DEA), the ground-state 6-coordinate compound was absent, but evidence for it was present after pulsed light excitation of NiP. Arrhenius analysis of data, measured from -40 to -10 °C, revealed activation energies for ligand dissociation that were the same for the compound in fluid solution and anchored to TiO2, Ea = 6.6 kcal/mol, within experimental error. At higher temperatures, a significantly smaller activation energy of 3.5 kcal/mol was found for NiP(DEA)2/TiO2. A model is proposed wherein the TiO2 surface sterically hinders ligand coordination to NiP. The lack of excited-state electron transfer from Ni(II)P*/TiO2 indicates that internal conversion to ligand field states was at least 10 times greater than that of excited-state injection into TiO2.

Increase in the coordination number of a cobalt porphyrin after photo-induced interfacial electron transfer into nanocrystalline TiO2.

Spectroscopic, electrochemical, and kinetic data provide compelling evidence for a coordination number increase initiated by interfacial electron transfer. Light excitation of Co(I)(meso-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin) anchored to a nanocrystalline TiO(2) thin film, abbreviated Co(I)P/TiO(2), immersed in an acetonitrile:pyridine electrolyte resulted in rapid excited state injection, k(inj) > 10(8) s(-1), to yield Co(II)P/TiO(2)(e(-)), followed by axial coordination of pyridine to the Co(II)P and hence an increase in coordination number from four to five. The formal oxidation state and coordination environment of the Co metalloporphyrin on TiO(2) were assigned through comparative studies in fluid solution as well as by comparisons to previously reported data. The kinetics for pyridine coordination were successfully modeled with a pseudo-first order kinetic model that yielded a second-order rate constant of k(+py) = 2 × 10(8) M(-1) s(-1). Spectro-electrochemical measurements showed that pyridine coordination resulted in a ∼200 mV negative shift in the Co(II/I) reduction potential, E°(Co(II/I)/TiO(2)) = -0.72 V and E°(Co(II/I)(py)/TiO(2)) = -0.85 V vs NHE. With some assumptions, this indicated an equilibrium formation constant K(f) = 400 M(-1) for the Co(II)P(py)/TiO(2) compound. The kinetics for charge recombination were non-exponential under all conditions studied, but were successfully modeled by the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) function with observed rate constants that decreased by about a factor of 100 when pyridine was present. The possible mechanisms for charge recombination are discussed.

Non-Nernstian two-electron transfer photocatalysis at metalloporphyrin-TiO2 interfaces.

A long-standing question in the photochemical sciences concerns how to integrate single-electron transfers to catalytic multielectron transfer reactions that produce useful chemical fuels. Here we provide a strategy for the two-electron formation of C-C bonds with molecular catalysts anchored to semiconductor nanocrystallites. The blue portion of the solar spectrum provides band gap excitation of the semiconductor while longer wavelengths of light initiate homolytic cleavage of metal-carbon bonds that, after interfacial charge transfer, restore the catalyst. The semiconductor utilized was the anatase polymorph of TiO(2) present as a nanocrystalline, mesoporous thin film. The catalyst was cobalt meso-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin chloride, Co(TCPP)Cl. For this catalyst and iron protoporphyrin IX chloride, Fe(PPIX)Cl, two distinct and sequential metal-based M(III/II) and M(II/I) reductions were observed under band gap illumination. Spectroelectrochemical characterization indicated that both reductions were non-Nernstian, behavior attributed to an environmentally dependent potential drop across the molecule-semiconductor interface. Reaction of Co(I)(TCPP)/TiO(2) with organobromides (RBr = 1-Br-hexane or benzyl bromide) resulted in the formation of Co(III)-R(TCPP)/TiO(2). Visible light excitation induced homolytic cleavage of the Co-C bond and the formation of C-C-bonded products. The reactions were catalytic when band gap excitation or an electrochemical bias provided TiO(2) electrons to the oxidized catalyst. Sustained photocurrents were quantified in photoelectrosynthetic solar cells under forward bias.