Spanning Four Mechanistic Regions of Intramolecular Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer in a Ru(bpy)(3)(2+) - Tyrosine Complex

作者：Irebo Tania; Zhang Ming Tian; Markle Todd F; Scott Amy M; Hammarstrom Leif^*

来源：Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2012, 134(39): 16247-16254.

DOI：10.1021/ja3053859

Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) from tyrosine (TyrOH) to a covalently linked [Ru(bpy)(3)](2+) photosensitizer in aqueous media has been systematically reinvestigated by laser flash-quench kinetics as a model system for PCET in radical enzymes and in photochemical energy conversion. Previous kinetic studies on Ru-TyrOH molecules (Sjodin et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 3932; Irebo et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 15462) have established two mechanisms. Concerted electron-proton (CEP) transfer has been observed when pH %26lt; pK(a)(TyrOH), which is pH-dependent but not first-order in [OH-] and not dependent on the buffer concentration when it is sufficiently low (less than ca. 5 mM). In addition, the pH-independent rate constant for electron transfer from tyrosine phenolate (TyrO(-)) was reported at pH %26gt;10. Here we compare the PCET rates and kinetic isotope effects (k(H)/k(D)) of four Ru-TyrOH molecules with varying Ru-III/II oxidant strengths over a pH range of 1-12.5. On the basis of these data, two additional mechanistic regimes were observed and identified through analysis of kinetic competition and kinetic isotope effects (KIE): (i) a mechanism dominating at low pH assigned to a stepwise electron-first PCET and (ii) a stepwise proton-first PCET with OH- as proton acceptor that dominates around pH = 10. The effect of solution pH and electrochemical potential of the Ru-III/II oxidant on the competition between the different mechanisms is discussed. The systems investigated may serve as models for the mechanistic diversity of PCET reactions in general with water (H2O, OH-) as primary proton acceptor.

• 出版日期2012-10-3