Luminescent tricarbonylrhenium(I) dipyridoquinoxaline indole complexes [Re(N-N)(CO)
3(L)](CF
3SO
3) (N-N = dipyrido[3,2-
f:2',3'-
h]quinoxaline (dpq), L =
N-(3-pyridoyl)tryptamine (py-3-CONHC
2H
4-indole) (
1a),
N-(
N-(3-pyridoyl)-6-aminohexanoyl)tryptamine (py-3-CONHC
5H
10CONHC
2H
4-indole) (
1b);N-N = 2-(
n-butylamido)dipyrido[3,2-
f:2',3'-
h]quinoxaline (dpqa), L = py-3-CONHC
2H
4-indole (
2a),py-3-CONHC
5H
10CONHC
2H
4-indole (
2b)) and their indole-free counterparts [Re(N-N)(CO)
3(py-3-CONH-Et)](CF
3SO
3) (py-3-CONH-Et =
N-ethyl-(3-pyridyl)formamide; N-N = dpq (
1c), dpqa (
2c))ha
ve been synthesized and characterized. The crystal structure of a related complex, [Re(dpqa)(CO)
3(pyridine)](PF
6), has also been studied. All the complexes exhibited triplet metal-to-ligand charge-transfer(
3MLCT) (d
(Re)
*(N-N)) emission in fluid solutions at 298
K and in alcohol glass at 77 K. Theemission quantum yields of the complexes were reduced upon changing from CH
2Cl
2 to aqueous buffer.The reduction was much more significant for the dpqa complexes than the dpq complexes due to thehydrogen-bonding interaction of the amide substituent of the dpqa ligand with water molecules. Theinteractions of these tricarbonylrhenium(I) complexes with indole-binding proteins including bo
vineserum albumin and tryptophanase ha
ve been studied by emission titrations and inhibition assays,respecti
vely.