Facile synthesis of a ruthenium assembly and its application for light-driven oxidation of alcohols in water.

A supramolecular assembly containing two light harvesting fragments [Ru(tpy)2](2+) and one catalytic unit [Ru(tpy)(bpy)Cl](+) was synthesized in a facile manner in 90% yield, and exhibited high photocatalytic product-selectivity compared with the corresponding bimolecular system in the light-driven oxidation of alcohols using [Co(NH3)5Cl]Cl2 as a sacrificial oxidant in water at room temperature.