Terpyridine-ruthenium complexes as building blocks for new metallo-supramolecular architectures

Supramolecular architectures are of great interest in modern materials research. The directed synthesis of asymmetric 2,2':6',2- terpyridine ruthenium(II) complexes is an important tool towards such systems. In this contribution, we report the synthesis of asymmetric terpyridine ruthenium(II) complexes as models for supramolecular architectures and polymers. Terpyridines, bearing different functional groups in the 4'-position, were complexed with unfunctionalized terpyridine ligands using Ru(III)/Ru(II) chemistry. The resulting compounds were characterized by UV-vis, one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy as well as MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In addition, X-ray structure analysis was performed for one selected example.