A study of acridine and acridinium-substituted bis(terpyridine)zinc(II) and ruthenium(II) complexes as photosensitizers for O2 (1Δg) generation.

The homoleptic zinc(II) and ruthenium(II) metal complexes of bis(tridentate) 9-acridine and 10-methyl-9-acridinium-substituted terpyridines were tested for their suitability as triplet photosensitizers (PS) using the photooxidation of 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) to Juglone as a model reaction. Singlet oxygen (O2(1)Δg) generation is superior or comparable to Ru(bpy)3(2+) for the acridine complexes, whereas the acridinium complexes are ineffective. The molecular structure of the bis(9-(5-([2,2':6',2''-terpyridin]-4'-yl)thien-2-yl)-10-methylacridinium)zinc(II) complex ([Zn(MeATT)2][PF6]4) is determined by X-ray structure analysis, whereas for other complexes DFT calculations were performed for structural parameters to obtain insights into their electronic properties.