Photoinduced electron transfer reaction of tris(4,4 '-dicarboxyl-2,2 '-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) ion with organic sulfides

[Ru(dcbpy)(3)](2+) (dcbpy = 4,4'-dicarboxyl-2,2'-bipyridine) ion, in the excited state, undergoes facile electron transfer (ET) reaction with aryl methyl and dialkyl sulfides and the quenching rate constant, k(q) value is sensitive to the structure of the sulfide. The detection of the sulfur radical cation in this system using time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy confirms the ET nature of the reaction. The semiclassical theory of ET has been successfully applied to the photoluminescence quenching of [Ru(dcbpy)(3)](2+) with sulfides. This is the first report for the generation and detection of sulfide radical cations from the excited state reaction of Ru(II) complex with organic sulfides.