Electron-Rich Diruthenium Complexes with π-Extended Alkenyl Ligands and Their F4 TCNQ Charge-Transfer Salts

The synthesis of dinuclear ruthenium alkenyl complexes with {Ru(CO)(Pⁱ Pr₃ )₂ (L)} entities (L=Cl^- in complexes Ru₂ -3 and Ru₂ -7; L=acetylacetonate (acac^- ) in complexes Ru₂ -4 and Ru₂ -8) and with π-conjugated 2,7-divinylphenanthrenediyl (Ru₂ -3, Ru₂ -4) or 5,8-divinylquinoxalinediyl (Ru₂ -7, Ru₂ -8) as bridging ligands are reported. The bridging ligands are laterally π-extended by anellating a pyrene (Ru₂ -7, Ru₂ -8) or a 6,7-benzoquinoxaline (Ru₂ -3, Ru₂ -4) π-perimeter. This was done with the hope that the open π-faces of the electron-rich complexes will foster association with planar electron acceptors via π-stacking. The dinuclear complexes were subjected to cyclic and square-wave voltammetry and were characterized in all accessible redox states by IR, UV/Vis/NIR and, where applicable, by EPR spectroscopy. These studies signified the one-electron oxidized forms of divinylphenylene-bridged complexes Ru₂ -7, Ru₂ -8 as intrinsically delocalized mixed-valent species, and those of complexes Ru₂ -3 and Ru₂ -4 with the longer divinylphenanthrenediyl linker as partially localized on the IR, yet delocalized on the EPR timescale. The more electron-rich acac^- congeners formed non-conductive 1 : 1 charge-transfer (CT) salts on treatment with the F₄ TCNQ electron acceptor. All spectroscopic techniques confirmed the presence of pairs of complex radical cations and F₄ TCNQ^.- radical anions in these CT salts, but produced no firm evidence for the relevance of π-stacking to their formation and properties.

X4TCNQ2− dianions: versatile building blocks for supramolecular systems

A new synthetic approach has led to the incorporation of TCNQ and F₄TCNQ dianions into a wide variety of structures.

Redox-active bridging ligands based on indigo diimine ("Nindigo") derivatives

Reactions of indigo with a variety of substituted anilines produce the corresponding indigo diimines ("Nindigos") in good yields. Nindigo coordination complexes are subsequently prepared by reactions of the Nindigo ligands with Pd(hfac)(2). In most cases, binuclear complexes are obtained in which the deprotonated Nindigo bridges two Pd(hfac) moieties in the expected bis-bidentate binding mode. When the Nindigo possesses bulky substituents on the imine (mesityl, 2,6-dimethylphenyl, 2,6-diisopropylphenyl, etc.), mononuclear Pf(hfac) complexes are obtained in which the Nindigo core has isomerized from a trans- to a cis-alkene; in these structures, the palladium is bound to the cis-Nindigo ligand at the two indole nitrogen atoms; the remaining proton is bound between the imine nitrogen atoms. The palladium complexes possess intense electronic absorption bands [near 920 nm for the binuclear complexes and 820 nm for the mononuclear cis-Nindigo complexes; extinction coefficients are (1.0-2.0) × 10(4) M(-1) cm(-1)] that are ligand-centered (π-π*) transitions. Cyclic voltammetry investigations reveal multiple redox events that are also ligand-centered in origin. All of the palladium complexes can be reversibly oxidized in two sequential one-electron steps; the binuclear complexes are reduced in a two-electron process whose reversibility depends on the Nindigo ligand substituent; the mononuclear palladium species show two one-electron reductions, only the first of which is quasi-reversible.