The unexpected preference for the fac-isomer with the tris(5-ester-substituted-2,2′-bipyridine) complexes of ruthenium(II)

The synthesis of a number of new 2,2'-bipyridine ligands, functionalized with bulky ester side groups, is reported (L2-L8). Their reaction with [Ru(DMSO)(4)Cl-2] gives rise to tris-chelate ruthenium(H) metal complexes which show an unusually high proportion of the fac-isomer, as judged by H-1 NMR following conversion to the ruthenium(II) complex of 2,2'-bipyridine-5-carboxylic acid methyl ester (L1). The initial reaction appears to have thermodynamic control with the steric bulk of the ligands causing the third ligand to be labile under the reaction conditions used, giving rise to disappointing yields and allowing rearrangement to the more stable facial form. DFT studies indicate that this does not appear to be as a consequence of a metal centered electronic effect. The two isomers of [Ru(L1)(3)](PF6)(2) were separated into the two individual forms using silica preparative plate chromatographic procedures, and the photophysical characteristics of the two forms compared. The results appear to indicate that there is no significant difference in both their room temperature electronic absorption and emission spectra or their excited state lifetimes at 77 K.