Seminar - Jana Roithová

Seminar program:

9 am - 10 am Jana Roithová (Radboud University)

Mass Spectrometry in Catalysis Research

Understanding reaction mechanisms is the key to developing new chemical reactions.
Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has a unique dynamic range that allows for studying reaction mixture compositions, including low-abundant reactive intermediates, side products, and degraded forms of catalysts.¹ In the lecture, I will focus on mapping catalytic reactions and detecting and characterizing reaction intermediates.² I will present our approach to using advanced mass spectrometry methods, such as ion spectroscopy, to characterize reactive species by vibrational and electronic spectroscopy.³ I will also show the use of all the methods to investigate electrocatalytic reactions (Figure 1).^4-7

Figure 1. VESI-MS (Voltammetry – electrospray ionization mass spectrometry) setup and an example of a
voltammogram coupled with ion abundances from mass spectra in dependence of the potential.

References:
(1) J. Mehara, J. Roithova, Identifying reactive intermediates by mass spectrometry, Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 11960.
(2) G. L. Tripodi et al., Tracking Reaction Pathways by a Modular Flow Reactor Coupled to Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Chem.
Methods 2021, 1, 430.
(3) J. Roithová et al., Helium Tagging Infrared Photodissociation Spectroscopy of Reactive Ions, Acc. Chem. Res. 2016, 49, 223.
(4) A. Koovakattil Surendran, J. Roithová, Decoding Voltammograms at the Molecular Frontier: Integration of Voltammetry and Mass
Spectrometry , Chem. Methods 2024, 4, e202400003.
(5) A. Koovakattil Surendran et al., Host-guest tuning of the CO2 reduction activity of an iron porphyrin cage, Nat. Sci. 2023, 3, e20220019.
(6) A. Bairagi et al., Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction: Monitoring of Catalytically Active, Downgraded, and Upgraded Cobalt Complexes, J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 5480 – 5492.
(7) A. Koovakattil Surendran et al., Intricacies of Mass Transport during Electrocatalysis: A Journey through Iron Porphyrin-Catalyzed Oxygen
Reduction, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 15619–15626.

10 am - 10:30 am Philippe Gros (DCM/CIRe)

Recent Advances in Earth-abundant Metal-based Photosensitizers 

10:30 am - 11 am David Gatineau (DCM/SITh)

Understanding dioxygen activation by manganese/iron complexes using mass spectrometry

11 am Coffee break