Photoinduced ligand dissociation follows reverse energy gap law: nitrile photodissociation from low energy 3MLCT excited states

A series of Ru(II)-terpyridine complexes containing electron-donating bidentate ligands are able to effectively photodissociate nitrile ligands using red light. A spectroscopic investigation of these complexes reveal that they follow anti-energy gap law behavior, providing further evidence that population of 3LF excited states is not necessary for photoinduced nitrile dissociation.