Fullerene bridged metallocyclodextrin donor–acceptor complexes: optical spectroscopy and photophysics

Hybrid materials based on ruthenium and fullerene assemblies

This review provides a detailed overview about the synthesis, properties and applications of all ruthenium-fullerene compounds reported within the last 25 years. The incorporation of ruthenium centers into fullerene compounds by organometallic, covalent or non-covalent bonds has led to a broad range of useful hybrid materials. By this approach novel compounds could be generated that feature the electron-donating and electron-accepting character of ruthenium complexes and fullerenes, respectively. Intramolecular interactions between both units could result in new, combined properties that were studied in the spotlight of emerging applications, such as photovoltaics or catalysis.

Expanding the coordination cage: a ruthenium(II)-polypyridine complex exhibiting high quantum yields under ambient conditions

A mononuclear ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complex with an enlarged terpyridyl coordination cage was synthesized by the formal introduction of a carbon bridge between the coordinating pyridine rings. Structurally, the ruthenium(II) complex shows an almost perfect octahedral N6 coordination around the central Ru(II) metal ion. The investigation of the photophysical properties reveals a triplet metal-to-ligand charge transfer emission with an unprecedented quantum yield of 13% and a lifetime of 1.36 mus at room temperature and in the presence of air oxygen. An exceptional small energy gap between light absorption and light emission, or Stokes shift, was detected. Additionally, time-dependent density functional theory calculations were carried out in order to characterize the ground state and both the singlet and triplet excited states. The exceptional properties of the new compound open the perspective of exploiting terpyridyl-like ruthenium complexes in photochemical devices under ambient conditions.

An Anthracene-Appended β-Cyclodextrin-Based Dyad: Study of Self-Assembly and Photoinduced Electron-Transfer Processes

The self-assembly of a beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD)-based supramolecular dyad is reported, in which the donor anthracene moiety is covalently linked to the smaller rim of the beta-CD and the acceptor pyromellitic diimide (PMDI) is encapsulated within the beta-CD cavity. Encapsulation of the PMDI into the beta-CD cavity was studied by a variety of techniques, which suggested that PMDI is encapsulated so as to position the aromatic part at the centre of the cavity with the 2-propyl end at the narrower rim among the overhanging primary OH groups and the N-ethylpyridinium end situated at the wider rim exposed to water. Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) in the system was studied by fluorescence quenching and laser flash photolysis techniques. At [PMDI]<10(-4) M, the equilibrium is in favour of the free molecules, and under these conditions fluorescence quenching is negligible and diffusion-mediated electron transfer involving the triplet excited state of anthracene predominates. At higher concentrations of PMDI, the equilibrium is largely in favour of the supramolecular dyad and intra-ensemble PET processes predominate. The experimentally determined electron-transfer rate constant agrees very well with that calculated by using the Marcus equation. It was observed that a fraction of the ion pairs survived for more than 200 micros.