Two Ru(II) complexes, [Ru(bpy)
2L](ClO
4)
2 (
1) and [Ru(bpy)
2L'](BF
4)
2 (
2), where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine, L is diacetyldihydrazone, and L' 1:2 is the condensate of L and acetone, are synthesized. From X-ray crystal structures, bothare found to contain distorted octahedral RuN
62+ cores. NMR spectra show that the cations in
1 and
2 possess a
C2 axis in solution. They display the expected metal-to-ligand charge transfer (
1MLCT) band in the 400-500 nmregion. Complex
1 is nonemissive at room temperature in solution as well as at 80 K. In contrast, complex
2 givesrise to an appreciable emission upon excitation at 440 nm. The room-temperature emission is centered at 730 nm(
emmax) with a quantum yield (
em) of 0.002 and a lifetime (
em) of 42 ns in an air-equilibrated methanol-ethanolsolution. At 80 K,
em = 0.007 and
em = 178 ns, with a
emmax of 690 nm, which is close to the 0-0 transition,indicating an
3MLCT excited-state energy of 1.80 eV. The radiative rate constant (5 × 10
4 s
-1) at room temperatureand 80 K is almost temperature independent. From spectroelectrochemistry, it is found that bpy is easiest toreduce in
2 and that L is easiest in
1. The implications of this are that in
2 the lowest
3MLCT state is localized ona bpy ligand and in
1 it is localized on L. Transient absorption results also support these assignments. As aconsequence, even though
2 shows a fairly strong and long-lived emission from a Ru(II)
bpy CT state, theRu(II)
L CT state in
1 shows no detectable emission even at 80 K.