Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
Chem Commun (Camb). 2020 Dec 25;56(99):15496-15512. doi: 10.1039/d0cc05870j. Epub 2020 Dec 10.
Bioinspired transformation of small-molecules to energy-related feedstocks is an attractive research area to overcome both the environmental issues and the depletion of fossil fuels. The highly effective metalloenzymes in nature provide blueprints for the utilization of bioinspired metal complexes for artificial photosynthesis. Through simpler structural and functional mimics, the representative herein is the pivotal development of several critical small molecule conversions catalyzed by metal complexes, e.g., water oxidation, proton and CO reduction and organic chemical transformation of small molecules. Of great achievement is the establishment of bioinspired metal complexes as catalysts with high stability, specific selectivity and satisfactory efficiency to drive the multiple-electron and multiple-proton processes related to small molecule transformation. Also, potential opportunities and challenges for future development in these appealing areas are highlighted.
受生物启发将小分子转化为与能源相关的原料是一个很有吸引力的研究领域，可以克服环境问题和化石燃料枯竭这两大难题。自然界中高效的金属酶为利用生物启发的金属配合物进行人工光合作用提供了蓝图。通过更简单的结构和功能模拟，这里的代表是几种关键的小分子转化由金属配合物催化的，例如，水氧化、质子和 CO 还原以及小分子的有机化学转化。取得巨大成就的是将生物启发的金属配合物作为催化剂建立起来，这些催化剂具有高稳定性、特定选择性和令人满意的效率，可以驱动与小分子转化相关的多电子和多质子过程。此外，还强调了这些有吸引力的领域未来发展的潜在机遇和挑战。
