Prof. Licheng Sun’s group in the Center of Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuels at Westlake University published a research paper in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The paper is titled “Quantum chemical understanding of the O2 release process from nature’s water splitting cofactor”.
The research reported that O2 release from nature's water splitting cofactor is initiated by the Mn−O5(μ-oxo) bond cleavage, without an initial conformational change of the peroxide group. This pathway is kinetically dominant because of the maximum stability of the rate-limiting transition state.
Dr. Yu Guo from Westlake University is the first author. Prof. Licheng Sun is the corresponding author.