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Etioplasts lack thylakoid membranes and photosystem complexes. Light triggers differentiation of etioplasts into mature chloroplasts, and photosystem complexes assemble in parallel with thylakoid membrane development. Plastids isolated at various time points of de-etiolation are ideal to study the kinetic biogenesis of photosystem complexes during chloroplast development. Here, we investigated the chronology of photosystem II (PSII) biogenesis by monitoring assembly status of chlorophyll-binding protein complexes and development of water splitting via O2 production in plastids (etiochloroplasts) isolated during de-etiolation of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Assembly of PSII monomers, dimers and complexes binding outer light-harvesting antenna [PSII-light-harvesting complex II (LHCII) supercomplexes] was identified after 1, 2 and 4 h of de-etiolation, respectively. Water splitting was detected in parallel with assembly of PSII monomers, and its development correlated with an increase of bound Mn in the samples. After 4 h of de-etiolation, etiochloroplasts revealed the same water-splitting efficiency as mature chloroplasts. We conclude that the capability of PSII to split water during de-etiolation precedes assembly of the PSII-LHCII supercomplexes. Taken together, data show a rapid establishment of water-splitting activity during etioplast-to-chloroplast transition and emphasize that assembly of the functional water-splitting site of PSII is not the rate-limiting step in the formation of photoactive thylakoid membranes., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

During recent years significant progress has been made towards the realization of a sustainable and carbon-neutral energy economy. One promising approach is photochemical splitting of H2O into O2 and solar fuels, such as H2. However, the bottleneck in such artificial photosynthetic schemes is the H2O oxidation half reaction where more efficient catalysts are required that lower the kinetic barrier for this process. In particular catalysts based on earth-abundant metals are highly attractive compared to catalysts comprised of noble metals. We have now synthesized a library of dinuclear Mn2(II,III) catalysts for H2O oxidation and studied how the incorporation of different substituents affected the electronics and catalytic efficiency. It was found that the incorporation of a distal carboxyl group into the ligand scaffold resulted in a catalyst with increased catalytic activity, most likely because of the fact that the distal group is able to promote proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) from the high-valent Mn species, thus facilitating O-O bond formation.

The manganese(III) Schiff base complexes [Mn(acen)X] (H2acen: N,N'-ethylenebis(acetylacetone)imine, X: I(-), Br(-), Cl(-), NCS(-)) are considered as model systems for a combined study of the electronic structure using vibrational, UV/vis absorption, parallel-mode electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and low-temperature magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy. By variation of the co-ligand X, the influence of the axial ligand field within a given square-pyramidal coordination geometry on the UV/vis, EPR, and MCD spectra of the title compounds is investigated. Between 25000 and 35000 cm(-1), the low-temperature MCD spectra are dominated by two very intense, oppositely signed pseudo-A terms, referred to as "double pseudo-A terms", which change their signs within the [Mn(acen)X] series dependent on the axial ligand X. Based on molecular orbital (MO) and symmetry considerations, these features are assigned to π(n.b.)(s, a) → yz, z(2) ligand-to-metal charge transfer transitions. The individual MCD signs are directly determined from the calculated MOs of the [Mn(acen)X] complexes. The observed sign change is explained by an inversion of symmetry among the π(n.b.)(s, a) donor orbitals which leads to an interchange of the positive and negative pseudo-A terms constituting the "double pseudo-A term".

In this work the synthesis of the novel manganese complex [Mn(2)(III,III)(tpdm)(2)(μ-O)(μ-OAc)(2)](2+) (1) is reported, containing two manganese centres ligated to the unusual, facially coordinating, all-pyridine ligand tpdm (tris(2-pyridyl)methane). The geometric and electronic properties of complex 1 were characterised by X-ray crystallography, vibrational (IR and Raman) and optical spectroscopy (UV/Vis and MCD). Cyclic voltammograms of 1 showed a quasi-reversible oxidation event at 950 mV and an irreversible reduction wave at -250 mV vs. Ag/Ag(+). The redox behaviour of the compound was investigated in detail by UV/Vis- and X-band EPR-spectroelectrochemistry. Both electrochemical (+1200 mV) and chemical (tBuOOH) oxidations transform 1 into the singly oxidized di-μ-oxido species [Mn(2)(III,IV)(tpdm)(2)(μ-O)(2)(μ-OAc)](2+). Further electrochemical oxidation at the same potential results in the removal of a second electron to obtain a Mn(2)(IV,IV)-species. The ability of compound 1 to evolve O(2) was studied using different reaction agents. While reactions with both hydrogen peroxide and peroxomonosulfate yield O(2), homogeneous water-oxidation using Ce(IV) was not observed. Nevertheless, the oxidation reactions of 1 are very interesting model processes for oxidation state (S-state) transitions of the natural manganese water-oxidation catalyst in photosynthesis. However, despite its favourable coordination geometry and multielectron redox chemistry, complex 1 fails to be a catalytically active model for natural water-oxidation.

One of the most fundamental processes of the natural photosynthetic reaction sequence is the light-driven oxidation of water to molecular oxygen. In vivo, this reaction takes place in the large protein ensemble Photosystem II, where a μ-oxido-Mn(4)Ca- cluster, the oxygen-evolving-complex (OEC), has been identified as the catalytic site for the four-electron/four-proton redox reaction of water oxidation. This Perspective presents recent progress for three strategies which have been followed to prepare functional synthetic analogues of the OEC: (1) the synthesis of dinuclear manganese complexes designed to act as water-oxidation catalysts in homogeneous solution, (2) heterogeneous catalysts in the form of clay hybrids of such Mn(2)-complexes and (3) the preparation of manganese oxide particles of different compositions and morphologies. We discuss the key observations from the studies of such synthetic manganese systems in order to shed light upon the catalytic mechanism of natural water oxidation. Additionally, it is shown how research in this field has recently been motivated more and more by the prospect of finding efficient, robust and affordable catalysts for light-driven water oxidation, a key reaction of artificial photosynthesis. As manganese is an abundant and non-toxic element, manganese compounds are very promising candidates for the extraction of reduction equivalents from water. These electrons could consecutively be fed into the synthesis of "solar fuels" such as hydrogen or methanol.