Synthesis and electrochemistry of cobalt tetrabutanotriarylcorroles. Highly selective electrocatalysts for two-electron reduction of dioxygen in acidic and basic media

Abstract

Three [Formula: see text],[Formula: see text]-tetrabutano-substituted cobalt(III) triarylcorroles were synthesized and characterized by UV-vis, 1H NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry as well as electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry. The examined compounds are represented as butano-(YPh)3CorCo(PPh[Formula: see text], where Cor represents the core of the corrole and Y is a CH3, H or Cl group on the para-position of each meso-phenyl ring of the macrocycle. Each corrole undergoes two stepwise cobalt-centered reductions leading to formation of Co(II) and Co(I) derivatives in CH2Cl2 containing 0.1 M TBAP. Three reversible one-electron oxidations were observed within potential, ranging from 0.16 to 1.40 V in CH2Cl2. The first oxidation generates a mixture of Co(III) [Formula: see text]-cation radical and Co(IV), while the second oxidation is metal-centered to give the Co(IV) corrole. Each cobalt corrole was examined as a catalyst for electroreduction of O2 when coated on an edge-plane pyrrolytic graphite electrode in acidic and basic solutions. The results indicate that the cobalt tetrabutanotriarylcorroles can act as selective catalysts for the 2e reduction of molecular oxygen to give H2O2 as the final product under the given solution conditions.