Structures and photophysical properties of a family of [Ru(dcmb)2]2+ based complexes having pyridyl and amino acid ancillary ligands

This paper reports eight new ruthenium complexes (1-8) for the studies on their structures and photo physical properties. Five of them (1-5) are based on the [Ru(dcmb)(2)](2+) (dcmb = 4,4'-bis(methoxycarbony1)-2,2'-bipyridine) core, while the other three complexes (6-8) are based on the [Ru(dcbpy)(2)](2+) (dcbpy = 4,4-dicarboxy-2,2-bipyridine) unit. It is found that the introduction of pyridyl and amino acid ancillary ligands has great influences on the absorption spectra of complexes 1-5. Four single-crystal structures (2-5) are included in this work, which are suggested to be the first structural examples on [Ru(dcmb)(2)](2+) based complexes having the second aromatic ancillary ligands. In addition, [Ru(dcbpy)(2)](2+) based dyes 6-8 have been used as the photosensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and dye 7 bearing the amino acid ancillary ligand shows the best photoelectronic performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.