Immobilization of an Amphiphilic Molecular Cobalt Catalyst on Carbon Black for Ligand-Assisted Water Oxidation.

We have prepared the amphiphilic molecular catalyst [Co(L)(pyrr)]ClO (1), where L is the deprotonated form of N, N'-[4,5-bis(octadecyloxy)-1,2-phenylene]dipicolinamide. Species 1 can be anchored onto a carbon black support to yield the assembly 1@CB, which can catalyze water oxidation at an affordable onset overpotential of 0.32 V, with a current density of 10 mA/cm at 0.