Photoexcited states of dinuclear Ru complexes bridged by proton-dissociable benzimidazole derivatives

Abstract New dinuclear Ru complexes containing proton dissociable benzimidazole derivatives have been prepared, in which 2,2'-bis(2-benzimidazolyl)-4,4'-bipyridine(bbbpyH 2 ) is introduced as a new bridging ligand. New dinuclear Ru complexes can be classified into three types according to the number of the dissociable protons and redox activity of the central metal ions. Three types of complexes exhibit different switching modes on the redox behaviors, emission, or metal-metal interaction. The proton dissociation in dinuclear Ru complexes leads to the changes of redox potentials and donor property of the ligand, which induces the switching of redox and photochemical properties in the complexes.