Hydrophilicity and oxophilicity of the isolated CaMn4O5 cationic cluster modeling inorganic core of the oxygen-evolving complex

Abstract

Bond splitting and oxidation of water is known to be catalyzed in photosystem II, which consists of protein ligands and an inorganic core, CaMn₄O₅. In the present study, the redox properties of the isolated CaMn₄O_k⁺ clusters and the effect of water on them were investigated by gas phase thermal desorption spectrometry and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.