New ruthenium polypyridyl complexes as potential sensors of acetonitrile and catalysts for water oxidation

ABATE, PEDRO O.; PEYROT, ANALIA M.; FONTRODONA, XAVIER; ROMERO, MARÍA I.; FAGALDE, FLORENCIA; KATZ, NÉSTOR E.

RSC Advances

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2022 vol. 12 p. 8414 - 8422

2046-2069

New ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes of formulae [RuCl(Me2Ntrpy)(bpy-OMe)]Cl, 1, and[Ru(Me2Ntrpy)(bpy-OMe)(OH2)](CF3SO3)2, 2, with Me2Ntrpy= 4´-N,N-dimethylamino-2,2:6,2´´-terpyridine and bpy-OMe = 4,4´-dimethoxy-2,2´-bipyridine, were synthetized and characterized byspectroscopic and electrochemical techniques. Besides, [Ru(Me2Ntrpy)(bpy-OMe)(NCCH3)]2+, 3, was obtained and characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy in acetonitrile solution. All experimental results were complemented with DFT and TD-DFT calculations. The complete structure of complex 1 was determined by X-ray diffraction, evidencing that the Ru?N and Ru?Cl bond lengths are longer than those determined in [RuCl(trpy)(bpy)](PF6). The strong electron donating properties of the substituents of both bpy and trpy rings in complexes 1 and 2 led to their potential applications for detecting traces of acetonitrile as a contaminant in aqueous solutions of radiopharmaceuticals and to utilization of complex 2 as a promising candidate for catalyzing water oxidation processes.