Search for: All records

Catalysts are central to energy conversion in biology and technology; they provide low-energy pathways for steering chemical transformations and are used in applications ranging from manufacturing fuels and fine chemicals to controlling the bioenergetic reactions essential to all living organisms. Accordingly, the study of homogeneous molecular catalysts, including porphyrins, has provided researchers significant insights regarding the mechanisms and structure−function relationships governing myriad catalytic processes, as well as design principles for further improving the performance of human-engineered catalysts. Our research group has recently reported on the favorable catalytic properties of piextended porphyrins for hydrogen evolution, demonstrating the promise of extended macrocycles as a design element and structural motif for preparing electrocatalysts. The pi-extended architecture provides an alternative strategy, compared to using electron-withdrawing or electron-donating functional groups, for adjusting the redox properties of a molecular catalyst and thus a promising avenue for catalyst design warranting further analysis.