A series of rhenium(I) tricarbonyl diimine complexes with crown ether pendants has been synthesized and characterized. The complexes showed selective and specific binding properties for various metal ions of different sizes and degrees of hardness and softness by variation of the cavity size and donor atoms of the crown ether. Upon binding of metal ions, obvious spectral changes were observed in the UV-vis spectra of the complexes and the emission intensity was found to be strongly enhanced. The X-ray crystal structure of one of the complexes has also been determined.

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A series of tetracyanoruthenate(II) with chelating pyridyl N-heterocyclic carbene ligands (NHC-py) was synthesized and characterized. Their photophysical and electrochemical properties as well as the photochromic behavior of their dithienylethene-containing complexes were studied. Photocyclization was found to take place upon irradiation into the metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) absorption bands of these complexes, and evidence is provided to support the triplet-sensitizing reaction pathway.

A series of dithienylethene-containing imidazolium salts with various substituents on the 2-position of the imidazolium ring has been synthesized. The photochromic properties of these compounds have been studied, and the closed forms are found to be solvatochromic due to the donor-acceptor interaction with the solvent molecules. The closed form of the imidazolium salt shows a much higher affinity towards nucleophiles over the open form of the salt. A reaction pathway has been proposed to account for this reactivity difference based on the structure-property relationship, and the possible structure of the reaction product is discussed.