Luminescent 1D chain of platinum(II) terpyridyl units with p-dithiobenzoquinone organometallic linker: self-aggregation imparted from Pt center dot center dot center dot Pt/pi-pi interactions

Unlike p-dithiobenzoquinone (1), which is extremely reactive and has never been isolated, the metal-stabilised p-dithiobenzoquinone [Cp* Ir(eta(4)-C6H4S2)] (2c) was prepared and used as an effi. cient organometallic linker to construct novel supramolecular assemblies. Treatment of 2c with the electrophilic Pt(II)(terpy) building blocks produced the supramolecular assembly {[Pt(terpy){Cp* Ir-p-(eta(4)-C6H4S2)} Pt(terpy)][OTf](4)}(n) (3), which was fully characterised and its molecular structure was determined by X-ray crystallography. The structure of 3 revealed the presence of pi-pi and Pt ... Pt interactions among individual molecules describing a 1D chain. Complex 3 showed unusual UV/Vis absorption and luminescence behaviour at low temperature, imparted from self-aggregation mediated by pi-pi and Pt ... Pt interactions.