Synthesis of Molecular Catalysts for Interconversion between Water and Oxygen

可再生能源将水分解为氧/氢及其逆反应氧还原为水是氢经济的基础。实现这一目标的重要途径是创造既能高效地进行四电子反应的催化剂。然而，由于现有的催化剂还不成熟且效率较低，因此我们对这些在光合作用和呼吸作用中起作用的金属酶的反应建模进行了深入的研究。通过本研究，我们成功地阐明了这两种酶的反应机理，并建立了精细的（功能）模型，提出了它们是优良的分子催化剂。

The decomposition of water to oxygen/hydrogen by the renewable energy and its inverse reaction, oxygen reduction to water, are fundamental ones in hydrogen economy. Creation of catalysts to perform both four-electron reactions in high energy-efficiency is important for realizing it. However, since the existing catalysts are still immature and less efficient, we have studied to obtain deep understanding on these reactions modeling of metalloenzymes, which work in photosynthesis and respiration. According to this research, we succeeded to elucidate both reactions mechanism with elaborate (functional) models of the enzymes and to propose them as the excellent molecule catalysts.