2022 journal article

A biohybrid strategy for enabling photoredox catalysis with low-energy light

CHEM, 8(1), 174–185.

By: P. Cesana*, B. Li*, S. Shepard n, S. Ting*, S. Hart*, C. Olson*, J. Alvarado*, M. Son* ...

co-author countries: United States of America 🇺🇸
Source: Web Of Science
Added: February 7, 2022

Natural systems drive the high-energy reactions of photosynthesis with efficient and broadband energy capture. Transition-metal photocatalysts similarly convert light into chemical reactivity, and yet suffer from light-limited operation and require blue-to-UV excitation. In photosynthesis, both light capture and reactivity have been optimized by separation into distinct sites. Inspired by this modular architecture, we synthesized a biohybrid photocatalyst by covalent attachment of the photosynthetic light-harvesting protein R-phycoerythrin (RPE) to the transition-metal photocatalyst tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) ([Ru(bpy)3]2+). Spectroscopic investigation found that absorbed photoenergy was efficiently funneled from RPE to [Ru(bpy)3]2+. The utility of the biohybrid photocatalyst was demonstrated via an increase in yields for a thiol-ene coupling reaction and a cysteinyl-desulfurization reaction, including recovered reactivity at red wavelengths where [Ru(bpy)3]2+ alone does not absorb.