The role of electrocatalysts in energy storage/conversion,
biomedical
and environmental sectors, green chemistry, and much more has generated
enormous interest in comprehending their structure–activity
relations. While targeting the surface-to-volume ratio, exposing reactive
crystal planes and interfacial modifications are time-tested considerations
for activating metallic catalysts; it is primarily by substitution
in molecular electrocatalysts. This account draws the distinction
between a substituent’s chemical identity and isomerism, when
regioisomerism of the −NO2 substituent is conferred
at the “α” and “β” positions
on the macrocycle of cobalt phthalocyanines. Spectroscopic analysis
and theoretical calculations establish that the β isomer accumulates
catalytically active intermediates via a cumulative influence of inductive
and resonance effects. However, the field effect in the α isomer
restricts this activation due to a vanishing resonance effect. The
demonstration of the distinct role of isomerism in substituted molecular
electrocatalysts for reactions ranging from energy conversion to biosensing
highlights that isomerism of the substituents makes an independent contribution to electrocatalysis
over its chemical identity.