The Molecular Approach for Artificial Photosynthesis

Nature has provided us with the main clues how to use solar energy to power multielectronic catalytic reactions leading to its storage in form of chemical bonds. A key feature is that nature uses molecular metal complexes based on earth abundant metal ions at the active catalytic sites of most enzymes participating in the main energetic transduction pathways. Therefore, replicating these activities using synthetic molecular complexes is a central research theme. Photosystem II, the enzyme responsible for the water oxidation can be conceptualised as being made up of two parts: a photoactive unit and a catalytic module held at optimised distances through the protein matrix.  We are involved in the design of modular assemblies of photoactive units and molecular based catalytic unit for the photoactivation of water. We will discuss on our work to use Click chemistry to develop a library of modular ensembles for the study of light induced electron transfer and our effort in the understanding of water activation in the oxygen atom transfer reactions. We will also present our latest results in the field of molecular catalyst for the production of H₂.