Installing Quinol Proton/Electron Mediators onto Non-Heme Iron Complexes Enables Them to Electrocatalytically Reduce O2to H2O at High Rates and Low Overpotentials

We prepare iron(II) and iron(III) complexes with polydentate ligands that contain quinols, which can act as electron proton transfer mediators. Although the iron(II) complex with N-(2,5-dihydroxybenzyl)-N,N′,N′-tris(2-pyridinylmethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (H2qp1) is inactive as an electrocatalyst, iron complexes with N,N′-bis(2,5-dihydroxybenzyl)-N,N′-bis(2-pyridinylmethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (H4qp2) and N-(2,5-dihydroxybenzyl)-N,N′-bis(2-pyridinylmethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine (H2qp3) were found to be much more active and more selective for water production than a previously reported cobalt-H2qp1 electrocatalyst while operating at low overpotentials. The catalysts with H2qp3 can enter the catalytic cycle as either Fe(II) or Fe(III) species; entering the cycle through Fe(III) lowers the effective overpotential. On the basis of their TOF0values, the successful iron–quinol complexes are better electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction than previously reported iron-porphyrin compounds, with the Fe(III)–H2qp3 arguably being the best homogeneous electrocatalyst for this reaction. With iron, the quinol-for-phenol substitution shifts the product selectivity from H2O2to water with little impact on the overpotential, but unlike cobalt, this substitution also greatly improves the activity, as assessed by TOFmax, by hastening the protonation and oxygen binding steps. The addition of a second quinol further enhances the activity and selectivity for water but modestly increases the effective overpotential.