Exciting Heavy Metal

Retrieving Structures in Photocatalysis

Photocatalysts play an important role in a broad range of applications, from photochemical conversion of light energy into chemical energy through to initiating novel chemical reactions. One family of compounds that has attracted much attention is the dinuclear d8-d8 platinum, rhodium and iridium complexes that have a highly reactive electronic excited state. When photo-excited with light these systems have been shown to abstract H-atoms from a variety of substrates and initiate electron transfer processes. In this work we exam-ine the structure of the triplet excited state of a diplatinum member of this photocatalyst family.

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