Investigating the Role of Ligand Electronics on Stabilizing Electrocatalytically Relevant Low-Valent Co(I) Intermediates

Cobalt complexes have shown great promise as electrocatalysts in applications ranging from hydrogen evolution to C–H functionalization. However, the use of such complexes often requires polydentate, bulky ligands to stabilize the catalytically active Co(I) oxidation state from deleterious disproportionation reactions to enable the desired reactivity. Herein, we describe the use of bidentate electronically asymmetric ligands as an alternative approach to stabilizing transient Co(I) species. Using disproportionation rates of electrochemically generated Co(I) complexes as a model for stability, we measured the relative stability of complexes prepared with a series of N,N-bidentate ligands. While the stability of Co(I)Cl complexes demonstrates a correlation with experimentally measured thermodynamic properties, consistent with an outer-sphere electron transfer process, the set of ligated Co(I)Br complexes evaluated was found to be preferentially stabilized by electronically asymmetric ligands, demonstrating an alternative disproportionation mechanism. These results allow a greater understanding of the fundamental processes involved in the disproportionation of organometallic complexes and have allowed the identification of cobalt complexes that show promise for the development of novel electrocatalytic reactions.