Photoinduced energy and electron transfer processes in rigidly bridged dinuclear Ru/Os complexes

In an attempt to elucidate the role played by the various factors-distance, geometry, electronic nature of the bridging ligand-which control the occurrence of intercomponent electronic energy and electron transfer in dinuclear systems, several photophysical studies have been reported. In this contribution we discuss the photoinduced energy and electron transfer processes occurring in rigid systems containing ruthenium and/or osmium metal units prepared in our laboratories, and compare them with the results obtained with compounds described by other authors. The choice of spacers, connections, chelating sites, and metal units used to construct photoactive systems is described. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.