Molecular Oxidation Catalysts for Water Splitting and Organic Synthesis

3,174 papers · previously filed under “Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment”

Molecular Oxidation Catalysts for Water Splitting and Organic Synthesis

This community designs and studies molecular metal complexes that catalyze oxidation reactions, primarily for splitting water to generate oxygen and for transforming organic molecules in chemical synthesis.

The work centers on synthesizing and characterizing complexes of manganese, ruthenium, cobalt, and copper, often utilizing Schiff base ligands or corroles. Researchers investigate the mechanisms of electron transfer and oxygen-oxygen bond formation in these systems. Applications include the oxygen evolution reaction for renewable energy and the catalytic oxidation of organic substrates, such as olefin epoxidation and the activation of hydrogen peroxide. The community also examines nonheme iron and manganese oxo species to model biological oxidation processes, focusing on how ligand environments influence reactivity and selectivity in both abiotic and biomimetic contexts.

The largest share of the community's output is found in manganese research, accounting for 2.9% of all tracked manganese papers, with 1,058 papers in this group. Ruthenium research follows, contributing 1.5% of its total literature with 522 papers.

The community comprises 3,174 papers, published predominantly in Inorganic Chemistry, the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Inorganica Chimica Acta.

Recent work continues to explore the reactivity of high-valent metal-oxo species, including the trapping of cobalt(IV)-oxo intermediates and the development of manganese photocatalysts for sustainable organic synthesis.

Papers behind this description

  • Catalytic carbon–carbon bond cleavage in lignin via manganese–zirconium-mediated autoxidation — Nature Communications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45038-z
  • Room-temperature olefin epoxidation reaction by two 2D cobalt metal-organic complexes under O2 atmosphere: Coordination and structural regulation — Chinese Chemical Letters, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.cclet.2024.109716
  • Organocatalytic activation of hydrogen peroxide: towards green and sustainable oxidations — Chemical Science, 2023 — doi:10.1039/d3sc05618j
  • Manganese-Mediated Electrochemical Oxidation of Thioethers to Sulfoxides Using Water as the Source of Oxygen Atoms — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2024 — doi:10.1021/jacs.4c07058
  • Evolution in the Design of Water Oxidation Catalysts with Transition-Metals: A Perspective on Biological, Molecular, Supramolecular, and Hybrid Approaches — ACS Omega, 2024 — doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c07847
  • Enabling Peroxygenase Activity in Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases by Engineering Hydrogen Peroxide Tunnels — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023 — doi:10.1021/jacs.3c00195
  • Iron and manganese oxo complexes, oxo wall and beyond — Nature Reviews Chemistry, 2020 — doi:10.1038/s41570-020-0197-9
  • Hydrogen Bonding-Assisted and Nonheme Manganese-Catalyzed Remote Hydroxylation of C–H Bonds in Nitrogen-Containing Molecules — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023 — doi:10.1021/jacs.2c13832
  • Asymmetric Epoxidation of Alkenes Catalyzed by a Cobalt Complex — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2023 — doi:10.1021/jacs.3c05476
  • The synthesis and characterization of an iron(VII) nitrido complex — Nature Chemistry, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41557-023-01418-4
  • An Active Site Tyr Residue Guides the Regioselectivity of Lysine Hydroxylation by Nonheme Iron Lysine-4-hydroxylase Enzymes through Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2024 — doi:10.1021/jacs.3c14574
  • Ligand–Copper(I) Primary O 2 -Adducts: Design, Characterization, and Biological Significance of Cupric–Superoxides — Accounts of Chemical Research, 2023 — doi:10.1021/acs.accounts.3c00297
  • Asymmetric Hydrogen Atom Transfer — ACS Catalysis, 2025 — doi:10.1021/acscatal.5c07862
  • Synthesis, crystal structure, catalytic activity, and antioxidant properties of a novel copper complex — Inorganic Chemistry Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.inoche.2025.115073
  • Nonheme Fe Enzyme‐Catalyzed Enantiodivergent Nitrogen Migration: Directed Evolution and Computational Study of Isopenicillin N Synthases for Biocatalytic Synthesis of Arylglycines — Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2025 — doi:10.1002/anie.202524718
  • Synergizing Mn(IV)/Mn(III) Dual-Excitable Complexes and Chiral Cobalt Catalysis for Divergent Asymmetric Transformations — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2026 — doi:10.1021/jacs.5c16396
  • Trapping a Trigonal Bipyramidal Cobalt(IV)-Oxo Species with an Exceptional Reactivity — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025 — doi:10.1021/jacs.5c15059
  • Copper( iii ) trifluoromethyl tris(pyrazolyl)borates — Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 2026 — doi:10.1039/d6qi00184j