Synthesis and characterization of manganese and copper corrole xanthene complexes as catalysts for water oxidation

Two corrole xanthene ligands and four corresponding MnIV and CuIII complexes have been synthesized and spectroscopically characterized. This kind of complexes, comprising of xanthene and corrole linked by an amide bond, were designed as bio-inspired models for the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) in Photosystem II. We find that both manganese complexes 4a and 5a have efficiency on catalyzing oxygen evolution at low potential (about 0.80 V) by electrochemical method, which is a significant progress in the study of dioxygen formation.