"Trojan Horse" Effect in Photocatalysis-How Anionic Silver Impurities Influence Apparent Catalytic Activity.

The problematic consequences of using silver carbene precursors for the synthesis of NHC-complexes is elucidated with the example of dinuclear Ru-Rh/Ir photocatalysts. The presence of silver in the products is proven and an alternative silver-free synthetic approach successfully implemented. A significant difference in performance in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions of catalysts generated by the different strategies is observed.