Photochemical two-electron reduction of a dinuclear ruthenium complex containing a bent tetraazatetrapyridopentacene bridging ligand: pushing up the LUMO for storing more energy.

The synthesis and characterization of a ditopic bridging ligand, 9,12,21,22-tetraazatetrapyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c:3″2″-m:2''',3'''-o]pentaphene (tatppα) and its dinuclear ruthenium complex, [(phen)(2)Ru(tatppα)Ru(phen)(2)][PF(6)](4) (1(4+)), are described. The tatppα ligand is structurally very similar to 9,10,20,33-tetraazatetrapyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c:3″,2″-l:2''',3'''-n]pentacene (tatppβ), except that, instead of a linear tetraazapentacene backbone, tatppα has an ortho (or α) substitution pattern about the central benzene ring, leading to a 120° bend. Complex 1(4+) shows tatppα-based reductions at -0.73 and -1.14 V vs Ag/AgCl/saturated KCl and has an absorption spectrum showing the typical Ru(II) dπ → phen-like π* metal-to-ligand charge-transfer transition centered at ∼450 nm. In acetonitrile, visible-light irradiation of 1(4+) in the presence of triethylamine leads to two sequential changes in the absorption spectra, which are assigned to the formation of the one- and two-electron-reduced species, with the electrons stored on the tatppα ligand. These assignments were made by comparison of the spectral changes observed in 1(4+) upon stoichiometric chemical reduction with cobaltocene and by spectroelectrochemical analysis. Significantly, DFT calculations are very predictive of the optical and reductive behavior of the tatppα complex relative to the tatppβ complexes and show that modeling is a useful tool for ligand design. The chemical reactivity and differential reflectance spectroelectrochemical data reveal that the reductions are accompanied by radical dimerization of the tatppα ligand to species such as σ-{1}(2)(6+), which is only slowly reversible upon exposure to air and may limit the complexe's 1(4+) utility for driving photochemical H(2) production.