Issue 31, 2018

Dinitrogen photoactivation: status quo and future perspectives

Abstract

While the thermal activation of the dinitrogen molecule has been demonstrated in numerous examples with a variety of transition metals and ligand frameworks, the use of light to induce a weakening or splitting of the strong N–N bond is less well explored. Six complexes that bind N2 in a linear μ–η11-end-on fashion between two transition metals are known to cleave dinitrogen after absorbing a photon and relaxing from an electronically excited state. This Perspective article reviews the molecular complexes known to be capable of dinitrogen photocleavage, and discusses mechanistic insights into the photoactivation process gained from experimental and computational studies. In an extension of previous hypotheses for pathways to dinitrogen photoactivation that would facilitate easy protonation of the μ-N atoms, a scheme is presented that may help to identify other complexes that could be capable of dinitrogen photoactivation.

Graphical abstract: Dinitrogen photoactivation: status quo and future perspectives

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
01 fev 2018
Accepted
19 apr 2018
First published
03 may 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Dalton Trans., 2018,47, 10320-10329

Dinitrogen photoactivation: status quo and future perspectives

V. Krewald, Dalton Trans., 2018, 47, 10320 DOI: 10.1039/C8DT00418H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements