Chapter 17: Photocatalytic Redox Reactions with Metal Complex Catalysts

Metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) and ligand-to-metal charge-transfer (LMCT) states are produced upon photoexcitation of metal complexes. The MLCT and LMCT states have strong reducing and oxidizing capabilities, respectively, exhibiting photoredox catalysis in various photocatalytic redox reactions including water oxidation, CO₂ reduction and H₂O₂ production. By combining photoredox catalysis and thermal redox catalysis, molecular functions of photosynthesis have been achieved by constructing molecular models of PSI and PSII models, which are combined to achieve the stoichiometry of photosynthesis that is the regioselective reduction of NAD⁺ to NADH by H₂O.