PARENT SESSION

Symposium S8D Artificial Photosynthesis and Biological Hydrogen Production
Friday September 3rd, 2004 8:30 AM-10:30 AM Room 510A
Chair: Tom Moore
Co-Chair: Leif Hammarström

Chemistry and the iron only hydrogenases. Christopher Pickett^*,1, Cedric Tard¹, Liu Xiaoming¹, Saad Ibrahim¹, ¹ Dept of Biological Chemistry, Norwich, Norfolk, UK

ABSTRACT- Nature uses an extraordinary iron-sulfur assembly to catalyse hydrogen evolution/uptake at diffusional rates within the Fe-only hydrogenases, the H-cluster. The H-cluster consists of a di-iron subsite with CO and CN ligands which is linked to an 4Fe4S - cluster by a bridging cysteinyl group. We will show how synthetic sub-sites can be built, how the entire iron sulfur framework of an artificial H-cluster can be assembled, and how such systems can engage in electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

KEY WORDS: Di-iron subsites, Hydrogenase, Chemical Models, Electrocatalysis