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 asym-metric 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.