The Good's buffers HEPES, TAPSO, and Tris are shown to increase proton transfer (PT) kinetics in a broadly important and benchmark model reaction: the protonation of a metal hydroxo to yield the aquo complex, Ruᴵᴵ-OH + H⁺ → Ruᴵᴵ-OH₂. The most optimal buffer, Tris, accelerated PT with a rate constant kBT = 3.3 × 10⁸ M⁻¹ s⁻¹. Under the experimental conditions employed, PT occurred in tens of microseconds in the absence of buffer, kw = 5 × 10⁵ s⁻¹, and in nanoseconds at high Tris concentrations.
Kuchta III, J. J.; Kessinger, M.; Allen, S. R.; Meyer, G. J. Good's buffers accelerate interfacial proton transfer kinetics. Chemical Communications 2026. DOI: 10.1039/d6cc04734c
