Mononuclear [Ru
II(tptz)(acac)(CH
3CN)]ClO
4 ([
1]ClO
4) and mixed-valent dinuclear [(acac)
2Ru
III{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-tptz-
H+)
-}Ru
II(acac)(CH
3CN)]ClO
4 ([
5]ClO
4; acac = acetylacetonate) complexes have been synthesized via the reactions ofRu
II(acac)
2(CH
3CN)
2 and 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (tptz), in 1:1 and 2:1 molar ratios, respectively. In[
1]ClO
4, tptz binds with the Ru
II ion in a tridentate N,N,N mode (motif
A), whereas in [
5]ClO
4, tptz bridges the metalions unsymmetrically via the tridentate neutral N,N,N mode with the Ru
II center and cyclometalated N,C
- state withthe Ru
III site (motif
F). The activation of the coordinated nitrile function in [
1]ClO
4 and [
5]ClO
4 in the presence ofethanol and alkylamine leads to the formation of iminoester ([
2]ClO
4 and [
7]ClO
4) and amidine ([
4]ClO
4) derivatives,respectively. Crystal structure analysis of [
2]ClO
4 reveals the formation of a beautiful eight-membered water clusterhaving a chair conformation. The cluster is H-bonded to the pendant pyridyl ring N of tptz and also with the O atomof the perchlorate ion, which, in turn, makes short (C-H- - - - -O) contacts with the neighboring molecule, leadingto a H-bonding network. The redox potentials corresponding to the Ru
II state in both the mononuclear {[(acac)(tptz)Ru
II-N
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
C-CH
3]ClO
4 ([
1]ClO
4)
![](/images/entities/Gt.gif)
[(acac)(tptz)Ru
II-NH=C(CH
3)-OC
2H
5]ClO
4 ([
2]ClO
4) > [(acac)(tptz)Ru
II-NH
2-C
6H
4(CH
3)]ClO
4 ([
3]ClO
4) > [(acac)(tptz)Ru
II-NH=C(CH
3)-NHC
2H
5]ClO
4 ([
4]ClO
4)} and dinuclear {[(acac)
2Ru
III{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-tptz-H
+)
-}Ru
II(acac)(N
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
C-CH
3)]ClO
4 ([
5]ClO
4), [(acac)
2Ru
III{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-tptz-H
+(N
+-O
-)
2)
-}Ru
II(acac)(N
![](/images/entities/tbd1.gif)
C-CH
3)]ClO
4([
6]ClO
4), [(acac)
2Ru
III{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-tptz-H
+)
-}Ru
II(acac)(NH=C(CH
3)-OC
2H
5)]ClO
4 ([
7]ClO
4), and [(acac)
2Ru
III{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-tptz-
H+)
-}Ru
II(acac)(NC
4H
4N)]ClO
4 ([
8]ClO
4)} complexes vary systematically depending on the electronic nature of the coordinated sixth ligands. However, potentials involving the Ru
III center in the dinuclear complexes remain more or lessinvariant. The mixed-valent Ru
IIRu
III species ([
5]ClO
4-[
8]ClO
4) exhibits high comproportionation constant (
Kc) valuesof 1.1 × 10
12-2 × 10
9, with substantial contribution from the donor center asymmetry at the two metal sites. Complexes display Ru
II- and Ru
III-based metal-to-ligand and ligand-to-metal charge-transfer transitions, respectively, inthe visible region and ligand-based transitions in the UV region. In spite of reasonably high
Kc values for [
5]ClO
4-[
8]ClO
4, the expected intervalence charge-transfer transitions did not resolve in the typical near-IR region up to2000 nm. The paramagnetic Ru
IIRu
III species ([
5]ClO
4-[
8]ClO
4) displays rhombic electron paramagnetic resonance(EPR) spectra at 77 K (<
g> ~ 2.15 and
g ~ 0.5), typical of a low-spin Ru
III ion in a distorted octahedral environment.The one-electron-reduced tptz complexes [Ru
II(tptz
-)(acac)(CH
3CN)] (
1) and [(acac)
2Ru
III{(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-tptz-
H+)
2-}Ru
II(acac)(CH
3CN)] (
5), however, show a free-radical-type EPR signal near
g = 2.0 with partial metal contribution.