Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 23, 2026
The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Ligand Influence on the Electronic Spectra of Dicationic Ruthenium-Bipyridine-Terpyridine Complexes
Shuang Xu1, James E T Smith2, J Mathias Weber2
1JILA and Department of Physics, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, United States.
Abstract:
We report electronic spectra of a series of ruthenium polypyridine complexes of the form [(trpy)(bipy)Ru(II)-L](2+) (bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine and trpy = 2,2':6',2″-terpyridine), where L represents a small molecular ligand that occupies the last coordination site. Species with L = H2O, CO2, CH3CN, and N2 were investigated in vacuo using photodissociation spectroscopy. All species exhibit bright metal-to-ligand charger transfer (MLCT) bands in the visible and near UV, but with different spectral envelopes and peak energies, encoding the influence of the ligand L on the electronic structure of the complex. Several individual electronic bands can be resolved for L = H2O and CO2, while the spectra for L = N2 and CH3CN are more congested, even at low ion temperatures. The experimental results are discussed in the framework of time-dependent density functional theory.
More Related Videos
07:11ARL Spectral Fitting as an Application to Augment Spectral Data via Franck-Condon Lineshape Analysis and Color Analysis
Published on: August 19, 2021
08:54Vibrational Spectra of a N719-Chromophore/Titania Interface from Empirical-Potential Molecular-Dynamics Simulation, Solvated by a Room Temperature Ionic Liquid
Published on: January 25, 2020
Related Concept Videos
02:51Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
02:58Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
02:42Valence Bond Theory
02:46Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
01:19Complexation Equilibria: The Chelate Effect
03:02Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...