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Updated: Oct 21, 2025

The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
A "Pretender" Croconate-Bridged Macrocyclic Tetraruthenium Complex: Sizable Redox Potential Splittings despite
Nils Rotthowe1,2, Michael Linseis1, Lars Vogelsang1
1Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 31, 78464 Konstanz, Germany.
Abstract:
Careful optimization of the reaction conditions provided access to the particularly small tetraruthenium macrocycle , which is composed out of two redox-active divinylphenylene-bridged diruthenium entities {Ru}-1,4-CH=CH-C6H4-CH=CH-{Ru} (Ru2Ph; {Ru} = Ru(CO)Cl(PPr3)2) and two likewise redox-active and potentially non-innocent croconate linkers. According to single X-ray diffraction analysis, the central cavity of is shielded by the bulky PPr3 ligands, which come into close contact. Cyclic voltammetry revealed two pairs of split anodic waves in the weakly ion pairing CH2Cl2/NBu4BArF24 (BArF24 = [B{C6H3(CF3)2-3,5}4]- electrolyte, while the third and fourth waves fall together in CH2Cl2/NBu4PF6. The various oxidized forms were electrogenerated and scrutinized by IR and UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy. This allowed us to assign the individual oxidations to the metal-organic Ru2Ph entities within , while the croconate ligands remain largely uninvolved. The lack of specific NIR bands that could be assigned to intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) in the mono- and trications indicates that these mixed-valent species are strictly charge-localized. is hence an exemplary case, where stepwise IR band shifts and quite sizable redox splittings between consecutive one-electron oxidations would, on first sight, point to electronic coupling, but are exclusively due to electrostatic and inductive effects. This makes a true "pretender".
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