Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by a Pt(II) complex under visible light irradiation

An extremely effective photocatalytic complex, PtLCl2 (1), was synthesized with (4-([2,2':6',2''-terpyridin]-4'-yl)phenyl)boronic acid as ligand and further characterized through single crystal X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis spectrum. Multipoint hydrogen bonds and three kinds of pi-pi stacking interactions are observed in the supramolecular structure of 1. More significantly, the Pt(II) complex exhibits outstanding photocatalytic degradation efficiency (94.76%) for methyl orange within 120 min under visible light irradiation. The kinetic rate constant (k) for 1 (10 mg) is 0.02505 min(-1), which is approximately 70 times higher than that of the ligand (0.00036 min(-1)). Moreover, its photocatalysis mechanism proposed that <middle dot>O-2(-) and h(+) were the main active species for MO degradation, providing a great prospect for development of a new efficient photocatalytic complex.