Hydrogen Production Catalyzed by a Cobalt Schiff Base Complex

Abstract

As the world's population increases, developing new energy sources, such as artificial photosynthetic hydrogen production, is becoming a priority. Recent studies have shown the effectiveness of cobalt complexes with polypyridine ligands acting as catalysts for light driven hydrogen production. 1,1-(pyridine-2,6-diyl)bis(2-(2-pyridinyl)ethyl)ethanimine is a promising ligand because of its electronic similarity to ligands previously used for cobalt catalyzed hydrogen production. Ligands were synthesized following procedures in available literature and subsequently complexed to cobalt using a Co(BF4)3 salt. Recent work has focused on further purification of the ligand to eliminate impurities in the complex. Electrochemical analysis shows redox waves at -0.725V and -2.147V vs Fc/Fc+. In the presence of acetic acid, a catalytic wave, indicative of hydrogen formation, was observed at -2.147 V vs Fc/Fc+. These results suggest that this complex might be suitable in light driven artificial photosiynthetic systems.