Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution by tris-dithiolene tungsten complexes

Abstract

Herein, we report on the homogeneous photocatalytic evolution of hydrogen by using as reductive catalysts the prismatic symmetric tris – dithiolene complexes of the tungsten, namely [W{S2C2(Ph)2}3] (1) and its monoanion [W{S2C2(Ph)2}3](TBA) (2). Complex 2 is fully characterized by elemental analysis, ESI-MS, IR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectrophotometry as well as cyclic voltammetry. The photocatalytic system consists of [ReBr(CO)3(bpy)] as a photosensitizer, triethanolamine as a sacrificial electron donor and acetic acid as the proton source. Although the activity of the photocatalytic system is rather small (TON=18), it indicates that the homoleptic tris dithiolene complexes can act as proton reductive catalysts with their monoanion form to be more active in accordance with the findings for the bis - dithiolene complexes.

Keywords

• homogeneous
• photocatalysis
• reductive catalysts
• tungsten
• dithiolenes
• rhenium (i)
• hydrogen