Experimental and Computational Studies of the Single-Molecule Conductance of Ru(II) and Pt(II) trans-Bis(acetylide) Complexes

The single-molecule conductance of metal complexes of the general forms trans-Ru(C≡CArC≡CY)2(dppe)2 and trans-Pt(C≡CArC≡CY)2(PPh3)2 (Ar = 1,4-C6H2-2,5-(OC6H13)2; Y = 4-C5H4N, 4-C6H4SMe) have been determined using the STM I(s) technique. The complexes display high conductance (Y = 4-C5H4N, M = Ru (0.4 ± 0.18 nS), Pt (0.8 ± 0.5 nS); Y = 4-C6H5SMe, M = Ru (1.4 ± 0.4 nS), Pt (1.8 ± 0.6 nS)) for molecular structures of ca. 3 nm in length, which has been attributed to transport processes arising from tunneling through the tails of LUMO states.