Unveiling the origin of photo-induced enhancement of oxidation catalysis at Mo(vi) centres of Ru(ii)–Mo(vi) dyads

Photo-induced oxidation-enhancement in biomimetic bridged Ru(ii)-Mo(vi) photo-catalyst is unexpectedly photo-activated in ps timescales. One-photon absorption generates an excited state where both photo-oxidized and photo-reduced catalytic centres are activated simultaneously and independently.