[FeFe]-hydrogenase mimics: Bio-inspired hydrogen production

To learn from Nature how to create an efficient hydrogen-producing electrocatalyst or photocatalyst, much attention has been paid to the investigation of structural and functional biomimics of the active site of [FeFe]-hydrogenase. In order to study the influence of sulfur and selenium atoms incorporated into the structure of complexes that model the active site of [FeFe] hydrogenases, a series of diiron dithiolato and diselenolato complexes of the form [Fe2(CO)6{μ-(XCH2)2E}] (X = Se, Te; E = CR2, Ge2, SnR2, NR, RP(O), S, Se) have been prepared and characterized.