Mechanism of Water Oxidation Catalyzed by a Mononuclear Manganese Complex

The design and synthesis of biomimetic Mn complexes to catalyze oxygen evolution is a very appealing goal because water oxidation in nature employs a Mn complex. Recently, the mononuclear Mn complex [LMnII(H2O)(2)](2+) [1, L=Py2N(tBu)(2), Py= pyridyl] was reported to catalyze water oxidation electro-chemically at an applied potential of 1.23 V at pH 12.2 in aqueous solution. Density functional calculations were performed to elucidate the mechanism of water oxidation promoted by this catalyst. The calculations showed that 1 can lose two protons and one electron readily to produce [LMnIII(OH)(2)](+) (2), which then undergoes two sequential proton-coupled electron-transfer processes to afford [(LMnOO)-O-V](+) (4). The O-O bond formation can occur through direct coupling of the two oxido ligands or through nucleophilic attack of water. These two mechanisms have similar barriers of approximately 17 kcal mol(-1). The further oxidation of 4 to generate [(LMnO)-O-VI-O](2+) (5), which enables O-O bond formation, has a much higher barrier. In addition, ligand degradation by C-H activation has a similar barrier to that for the O-O bond formation, and this explains the relatively low turnover number of this catalyst.