Biphasic water splitting by osmocene

摘要

The photochemical reactivity of osmocene in a biphasic water-organic solvent system has been investigated to probe its water splitting properties. The photoreduction of aqueous protons to hydrogen under anaerobic conditions induced by osmocene dissolved in 1,2-dichloroethane and the subsequent water splitting by the osmocenium metal-metal dimer formed during H_2 production were studied by electrochemical methods, UV-visible spectrometry, gas chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Density functional theory computations were used to validate the reaction pathways.