Remarkable catalytic activity of dinitrogen-bridged dimolybdenum complexes bearing NHC-based PCP-pincer ligands toward nitrogen fixation

Aya Eizawa, Kazuya Arashiba, Hiromasa Tanaka, Shogo Kuriyama, Yuki Matsuo, Kazunari Nakajima, Kazunari Yoshizawa () and Yoshiaki Nishibayashi ()
Additional contact information
Aya Eizawa: School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Kazuya Arashiba: School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Hiromasa Tanaka: Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University
Shogo Kuriyama: School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Yuki Matsuo: Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University
Kazunari Nakajima: School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Kazunari Yoshizawa: Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu University
Yoshiaki Nishibayashi: School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Intensive efforts for the transformation of dinitrogen using transition metal–dinitrogen complexes as catalysts under mild reaction conditions have been made. However, limited systems have succeeded in the catalytic formation of ammonia. Here we show that newly designed and prepared dinitrogen-bridged dimolybdenum complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene- and phosphine-based PCP-pincer ligands [{Mo(N2)2(PCP)}2(μ-N2)] (1) work as so far the most effective catalysts towards the formation of ammonia from dinitrogen under ambient reaction conditions, where up to 230 equiv. of ammonia are produced based on the catalyst. DFT calculations on 1 reveal that the PCP-pincer ligand serves as not only a strong σ-donor but also a π-acceptor. These electronic properties are responsible for a solid connection between the molybdenum centre and the pincer ligand, leading to the enhanced catalytic activity for nitrogen fixation.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14874 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14874

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14874

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().