[Journal Club] Spectroscopic Tracking of Photoinduced Charge Accumulation and CO2 Activation on Urea-Modified Iron Porphyrin

The teams from ISMO, ICMMO, and I2BC have recently reported a time-resolved mechanistic depiction of photoinduced CO2 reduction catalysis on a urea-modified iron porphyrin. Employing a state-of-the-art nanosecond optical transient absorption spectroscopic setup with a double excitation capability, they were able to show that two electrons can be successively accumulated on the catalyst by tracking the fates of photogenerated Fe(II) and Fe(I) reduced species. In presence of CO2, the catalytic cycle is kick-started providing further evidence on CO2 activation by the catalyst in its formal FeI oxidation state, much earlier than the widely accepted Fe(0) redox active state. Read more details at: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202407723