Top Organomet Chem (2021) 68: 379–450
https://doi.org/10.1007/3418_2020_71
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Published online: 24 January 2021
The Application of Pincer Ligand
in Catalytic Water Splitting
Hong-Tao Zhang and Ming-Tian Zhang
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
1.1 Artificial Photosynthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
1.2 Water Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
1.3 Water Oxidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
1.4 Types of Pincer Ligand Used in HER/OER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
2 Molecular Catalysts with Pincer Ligand for HER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
2.1 Non-Hydrogenase Type HECs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
2.2 Models of Hydrogenase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
2.3 Assembled Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
3 Molecular Catalysts with Pincer Ligand for OER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
3.1 Noble Metals-Based Water Oxidation Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
3.2 Base Metals-Based Water Oxidation Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
4 Conclusion and Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Abstract The study of catalytic water splitting is one of the most active areas of
research across many sub-disciplines of chemistry. To understand the mechanistic
details and design artificial molecular catalysts for both water reduction (Hydrogen
Evolution Reaction, HER) and water oxidation (Oxygen Evolution Reaction, OER)
continue to be a challenge for the development of artificial photosynthetic system.
This chapter will focus on the summarization of recent development in the rapidly
growing field of artificial molecular catalysts with pincer ligand for both HER
and OER.
Keywords Artificial photosynthesis · Hydrogen evolution · Pincer ligand · Water
oxidation
H.-T. Zhang and M.-T. Zhang (*)
Center of Basic Molecular Science (CBMS), Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
e-mail: mtzhang@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
https://doi.org/10.1007/3418_2020_71
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Published online: 24 January 2021
The Application of Pincer Ligand
in Catalytic Water Splitting
Hong-Tao Zhang and Ming-Tian Zhang
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
1.1 Artificial Photosynthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
1.2 Water Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
1.3 Water Oxidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
1.4 Types of Pincer Ligand Used in HER/OER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
2 Molecular Catalysts with Pincer Ligand for HER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
2.1 Non-Hydrogenase Type HECs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
2.2 Models of Hydrogenase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
2.3 Assembled Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
3 Molecular Catalysts with Pincer Ligand for OER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
3.1 Noble Metals-Based Water Oxidation Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
3.2 Base Metals-Based Water Oxidation Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
4 Conclusion and Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Abstract The study of catalytic water splitting is one of the most active areas of
research across many sub-disciplines of chemistry. To understand the mechanistic
details and design artificial molecular catalysts for both water reduction (Hydrogen
Evolution Reaction, HER) and water oxidation (Oxygen Evolution Reaction, OER)
continue to be a challenge for the development of artificial photosynthetic system.
This chapter will focus on the summarization of recent development in the rapidly
growing field of artificial molecular catalysts with pincer ligand for both HER
and OER.
Keywords Artificial photosynthesis · Hydrogen evolution · Pincer ligand · Water
oxidation
H.-T. Zhang and M.-T. Zhang (*)
Center of Basic Molecular Science (CBMS), Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University,
Beijing, China
e-mail: mtzhang@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn