Manganese and cobalt complexes, using pyridine N-oxide as ligand, have been
synthesized, and their cyclic and square-wave voltammetric measurements ha
ve been carried out. The results reveal that the complexes exhibit differen
t voltammetric pattern, which suggests that the redox processes are most pr
obably metal-centered. In both complexes, extra redox activity is observed
once the potential exceeds certain value of the voltage. The observation of
an oxidation wave in manganese complex at + 0.75 V vs. Ag/AgCl or + 0.95 V
vs. NHE strongly suggests that this complex can bring about oxidation of w
ater and can, thus, serve as a synthetic analogue of water oxidizing comple
x (WOC) of PS II. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.