Across the Board: Licheng Sun on the Mechanism of O-O Bond Formation in Photosystem II.

In this series of articles, the board members of ChemSusChem discuss recent research articles that they consider of exceptional quality and importance for sustainability. This entry features Prof. L. Sun, who proposes a special mechanism for O-O bond formation in photosystem II with involvement of an MnVII -oxo species induced by charge- and structural rearrangements. In this viewpoint, Proton transfer is involved in changes of the first coordination spheres around the MnVII -oxo site on the dangling Mn4 with de- and re-coordination of carboxylates (Glu333 and Asp170).