Wilkinson's iridium acetate trimer as a water-oxidation catalyst

The catalytic water-oxidation activity of Wilkinson's iridium acetate trimer (1) has been characterized electrochemically and by using chemical oxidants. We show that 1 can function as an operationally homogeneous water-oxidation catalyst when driven with sodium periodate as a primary oxidant, but rapidly decomposes using Ce(IV) as a primary oxidant.