Single-electron transfer reactions on surface-modified gold plasmons

Abstract

Photoredox catalysis's relevance in organic synthesis research and innovation will increase in the coming decades. However, the processes rely almost exclusively on expensive noble metal complexes, most notably iridium complexes, to absorb light and transfer a single charge to a substrate or a catalyst to initiate cascade transformations. Light-triggered plasmon resonances generate a non-Fermi-Dirac energy distribution with many hot carriers that decay in ∼1 ps. Their ultrafast relaxation makes performing single electron transfer (SET) transformations challenging. Herein, a novel photosystem is proposed based on surface-modified gold nanoparticles (aka plasmon "molecularization"), which improved charge separation and, more importantly, enabled SET reactions, expanding the portfolio of photocatalysts available for photoredox catalysis. The photosystem was made into an electrode, permitting its use in photoelectrochemical arrangements that leverage electro- and photo-chemical approaches' benefits and chemical engineering solutions, helping the synthetic chemistry efforts towards greener synthesis and synthesis of more complex structures on a scale.