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Updated: Dec 13, 2025

The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
Mechanistic study of the trans,cis,cis-[RuCl2(DMSO)2(H2O)2] complex photochemistry in aqueous solutions
Anton A Shushakov1,2, Svetlana G Matveeva1, Ivan P Pozdnyakov1,2
1Voevodsky Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion, 3 Institutskaya Str., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation.
Abstract:
It is known that trans,cis,cis-[RuCl2(DMSO)2(H2O)2] (1a) complexes, which are formed upon dissolution of trans-[RuCl2(DMSO)4] in water, demonstrate light-induced cytotoxicity. The mechanistic study of 1a photochemistry has been performed using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy, laser flash photolysis and stationary photolysis. The first stage of 1a photochemistry is the photoexchange of a DMSO ligand to a water molecule; its quantum yield is wavelength-dependent (estimating by values 0.3 and 0.04 upon irradiation at 308 and 430 nm, respectively). The mechanism of photoexchange is complicated involving at least four Ru(ii) intermediates. Two tentative mechanisms of the process are proposed.
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Rate-Determining Steps
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
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Stereoisomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...

