Thiocarbohydrazone-based catalysts feature ligands that are potentially electrochemically active. From the synthesis point of view, these ligands can be easily tailored, opening multiple strategies for optimization, such as using different substituent groups or metal substitution. In this work, we show the possibility of a new strategy, involving the nuclearity of the system, meaning the number of metal centers. We report the synthesis and characterization of a trinuclear nickel-thiocarbohydrazone complex displaying an improved turnover rate compared with its mononuclear counterpart. We use DFT calculations to show that the mechanism involved is metal-centered, unlike the metal-assisted ligand-centered mechanism found in the mononuclear complex. Finally, we show that two possible mechanisms can be assigned to this catalyst, both involving an initial double reduction of the system.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.