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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Synthesis, DNA-binding and photocleavage of "light switch" complexes [Ru(bpy)2(pyip)]2+ and [Ru(phen)2(pyip)]2+
Xue-Wen Liu1, You-Ming Shen, Ji-Lin Lu
1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Arts and Science, ChangDe 415000, PR China. liuxuewen050@sina.com
Abstract:
Two novel Ru(II) complexes [Ru(bpy)(2)(pyip)](2+)1 and [Ru(phen)(2)(pyip)](2+)2 (bpy=2,2'-bipyridine; phen=1,10-phenanthroline; pyip=2-(pyridine-2-yl)imidazo-[4,5-f][1,10]-phenanthroline), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, ES-MS, (1)H NMR, UV-Vis. The DNA-binding behaviors of both complexes were studied by spectroscopic methods and viscosity measurements. The results indicate that the two complexes can bind to CT-DNA in an intercalative mode, and also show that these two Ru(II) complexes can promote the photocleavage of pBR322 DNA. In addition, In the presence of Co(2+), the emission of DNA-[Ru(L)(2)pyip](2+) can be quenched, which exhibited the DNA "light switch" properties.
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