Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation by a Homogeneous Copper Catalyst Disfavors Single-Site Mechanisms.

Deployment of solar fuels derived from water requires robust oxygen-evolving catalysts made from earth abundant materials. Copper has recently received much attention in this regard. Mechanistic parallels between Cu and single-site Ru/Ir/Mn water oxidation catalysts, including intermediacy of terminal Cu oxo/oxyl species, are prevalent in the literature; however, intermediacy of late transition metal oxo species would be remarkable given the high d-electron count would fill antibonding orbitals, making these species high in energy. This may suggest alternate pathways are at work in copper-based water oxidation. This report characterizes a dinuclear copper water oxidation catalyst, {[(L)Cu(II)]2-(μ-OH)2}(OTf)2 (L = Me2TMPA = bis((6-methyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)(2-pyridylmethyl)amine) in which water oxidation proceeds with high Faradaic efficiency (>90%) and moderate rates (33 s-1 at ∼1 V overpotential, pH 12.5). A large kinetic isotope effect (kH/kD = 20) suggests proton coupled electron transfer in the initial oxidation as the rate-determining step. This species partially dissociates in aqueous solution at pH 12.5 to generate a mononuclear {[(L)Cu(II)(OH)]}+ adduct (Keq = 0.0041). Calculations that reproduce the experimental findings reveal that oxidation of either the mononuclear or dinuclear species results in a common dinuclear intermediate, {[LCu(III)]2-(μ-O)2}2+, which avoids formation of terminal Cu(IV)═O/Cu(III)-O• intermediates. Calculations further reveal that both intermolecular water nucleophilic attack and redox isomerization of {[LCu(III)]2-(μ-O)2}2+ are energetically accessible pathways for O-O bond formation. The consequences of these findings are discussed in relation to differences in water oxidation pathways between Cu catalysts and catalysts based on Ru, Ir, and Mn.