Functionalised organometallic photoswitches containing dihydropyrene units

Area of Science:

• Organometallic Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Photochemistry

Background:

• Functionalizing organic molecular photoswitches with metal complexes enhances their switching properties.
• Organometallic photoswitches are key for developing smart molecular materials and electronic devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize mono- and bimetallic half-sandwich ruthenium and iron complexes functionalized with alkynyl dihydropyrenes (DHP).
• To investigate the electronic and photophysical properties of these novel organometallic compounds.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis and characterization of novel ruthenium and iron complexes.
• Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical techniques to determine electronic and photophysical properties.
• Analysis of NIR and IR bands in mixed valence complexes.

Main Results:

• Metal alkynyl moiety introduction provides access to additional redox and protonation states beyond DHP.
• An additional metal alkynyl moiety was found to inhibit observable photochromic switching.
• High charge delocalization across the DHP was observed in mixed valence complexes.

Conclusions:

• Functionalized DHP complexes offer tunable electronic and photophysical properties for advanced materials.
• The presence of metal alkynyl groups significantly influences photoswitching behavior and electronic states.
• These findings pave the way for new molecular electronic devices and smart materials.