Synthesis, characterisation and electrochemistry of some stable ruthenium(II) complexes of the bidentate NS chelating ligand 1-amino-2-thiomethylbenzene

Ruthenium(II) complexes of the bidentate aminothioether ligand, 1-amino-2-thiomethylbenzene (atb), have been synthesised by the direct reaction of atb with different ruthenium-containing starting materials. The complexes are of the type Ru(atb)(2)X-2 [X=Cl (1), X=Br (2)], [Ru(atb)(2)(PPh3)Cl]Cl (3) and Ru(atb)(bpy)Cl-2 (4), and have been characterised by elemental analysis, IR, UV-VIS and NMR spectroscopy. Contrary to the corresponding Ni-II, Pd-II, Pt-II and Cu-II complexes with the same ligand, these Ru-II complexes do not suffer demethylation on refluxing in DMF. Their electrochemical behaviour was examined by cyclic voltammetry using a glassy carbon working elctrode and an Ag/AgCl electrode as reference.