Dr. Jianbing (Jimmy) Jiang
Yale University
Department of Chemistry
Title:
Molecular Light-harvesting Architectures and Catalysts towards Renewable Energy Production
Abstract:
To achieve the goal of broad solar coverage beyond that of the native photosynthetic systems and make better use of light in the near-infrared region for efficient photocatalysis, synthetic chromophores have been incorporated onto native antenna peptides to create biohybrid antennas. In this presentation, I will talk about the molecular designs and synthesis of a set of wavelength-tunable, bioconjugatable and solubility-tunable bacteriochlorins (chlorophyll analogues). These synthetic bacteriochlorins and/or other synthetic pigments are covalently attached to analogues of natural peptides. Each resulting conjugate undergoes two-tiered self-assembly in the presence of the alpha-peptide and bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl a): (1) formation of an alpha-beta dyad containing two BChl a molecules, and (2) assembly of the dyads to form light-harvesting cyclic oligomers. The attached synthetic pigments funnel energy efficiently to the pair of BChl a molecules. This semisynthetic or biohybrid approach integrates large numbers of chromophores with protein assemblies of mesoscale size while affording increased solar coverage. The second part of this presentation discusses the design and synthesis a hydroxylated copper-porphyrin complex that was used as a heterogeneous electrocatalyst. This catalyst demonstrated both high activity and selectivity for reduction of CO2 to hydrocarbons (methane and ethylene) in aqueous media. This work represents the highest catalytic activity to date for hydrocarbon production over a molecular CO2 reduction electrocatalyst.
All are invited to attend.
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