The diamagnetic title complexes were obtained from Ru(acac)(2)(CH(3)CN)(2) and 2-aminophenol or 2-aminothiophenol. X-ray structure analysis of (L(1))Ru(acac)(2) (L(1) = o-iminoquinone) revealed C-C intra-ring, C-O, and C-N distances which suggest a Ru(III)-iminosemiquinone oxidation state distribution with antiparallel spin-spin coupling. One-electron oxidation and reduction of both title compounds to paramagnetic monocations [(L)Ru(acac)(2)](+) or monoanions [(L)Ru(acac)(2)](-) occurs reversibly at widely separated potentials (deltaE > 1.3 V) and leads to low-energy shifted charge transfer bands. In comparison with clearly established Ru(II)-semiquinone or Ru(III)-catecholate systems the g tensor components 2.23 > g(1) > 2.09, 2.16 > g(2) > 2.07, and 1.97 > g(3) > 1.88 point to considerable metal contributions to the singly occupied MO, corresponding to Ru(III) complexes with either o-quinonoid (--> cations) or catecholate-type ligands (--> anions) and only minor inclusion of Ru(IV)- or Ru(II)-iminosemiquinone formulations, respectively. The preference for the Ru(III) oxidation state for all accessible species is partially attributed to the monoanionic 2,4-pentanedionate (acac) co-ligands which favor a higher metal oxidation state than, e.g., neutral 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy).

Electron-rich Ru(acac)2 (acac- = 2,4-pentanedionato) binds to the pi electron-deficient bis-chelate ligands L, L = 2,2'-azobispyridine (abpy) or azobis(5-chloropyrimidine) (abcp), with considerable transfer of negative charge. The compounds studied, (abpy)Ru(acac)2 (1), meso-(mu-abpy)[Ru(acac)2]2 (2), rac-(mu-abpy)[Ru(acac)2]2 (3), and (mu-abcp)[Ru(acac)2]2 (4), were calculated by DFT to assess the degree of this metal-to-ligand electron shift. The calculated and experimental structures of 2 and 3 both yield about 1.35 A for the length of the central N-N bond which suggests a monoanion character of the bridging ligand. The NBO analysis confirms this interpretation, and TD-DFT calculations reproduce the observed intense long-wavelength absorptions. While mononuclear 1 is calculated with a lower net ruthenium-to-abpy charge shift as illustrated by the computed 1.30 A for d(N-N), compound 4 with the stronger pi accepting abcp bridge is calculated with a slightly lengthened N-N distance relative to that of 2. The formulation of the dinuclear systems with monoanionic bridging ligands implies an obviously valence-averaged Ru(III)Ru(II) mixed-valent state for the neutral molecules. Mixed valency in conjunction with an anion radical bridging ligand had been discussed before in the discussion of MLCT excited states of symmetrically dinuclear coordination compounds. Whereas 1 still exhibits a conventional electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical behavior with metal centered oxidation and two ligand-based one-electron reduction waves, the two one-electron oxidation and two one-electron reduction processes for each of the dinuclear compounds Ru2.5(L*-)Ru2.5 reveal more unusual features via EPR and UV-vis-NIR spectroelectrochemistry. In spite of intense near-infrared absorptions, the EPR results show that the first reduction leads to Ru(II)(L*-)Ru(II) species, with an increased metal contribution for system 4*-. The second reduction to Ru(II)(L2-)Ru(II) causes the disappearance of the NIR band. One-electron oxidation of the Ru2.5(L*-)Ru2.5 species produces a metal-centered spin for which the alternatives RuIII(L0)Ru(II) or Ru(III)(L*-)Ru(III) can be formulated. The absence of NIR bands as common for mixed-valent species with intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) absorption favors the second alternative. The second one-electron oxidation is likely to produce a dication with Ru(III)(L0)Ru(III) formulation. The usefulness and limitations of the increasingly popular structure/oxidation state correlations for complexes with noninnocent ligands is being discussed.

Low surface coverage of Au nanoparticles on an indium tin oxide electrode for sensitive electrochemical detection was achieved using electrostatic adsorption of AuCl(4)(-) followed by reduction.

Singlet species composed from clearly identified odd-electron components have long been known in the form of antiferromagnetically spin-spin coupled transition-metal centers (M) of d 2n+1 configuration bridged by ligands m-L, giving rise to the phenomenon of "superexchange" in (MC)(m-L)(MC) species. [1] More recently, [2] the reverse situation (LC)(M)(LC) with a bridging diamagnetic metal center was described and referred to in terms of "singlet diradical" species. Herein we present another alternative [Eq. (1)], involving the strong intramolecular interaction between a bridging anion radical ligand LC À and two mixed-valent metal centers.Evidence for the formulation in Equation (1) comes from structure determination in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Structural criteria have been increasingly used to establish the oxidation states of "non-innocent" ligands [3] and, by implication, of metal centers in the coordination compounds. Prominent examples include the bidentate 1,2-dioxolene chelate ligands Q/QC À /Q 2À for which structure-valency correlations were reported [4,5] and applied, and simple diatomic ligands such as the potentially metal-metal bridging redox system, a textbook case.[6] Related to the latter by the relation O = NR are organic azo compounds (NR) 2 which in the E configuration can act as reducible bis-bidentate bridges if R is a coordinating group, such as 2-pyridyl to form 2,2'-azobispyridine (abpy).[7]Abpy was first described by Lever and co-workers as a strongly p accepting but otherwise normal bridging ligand, [7b] a special feature of its complexes being the relatively short metal-metal distance of about 5 . [7a,c,e] As with the O 2 nÀ system, [6] the addition of electrons to abpy causes a lengthening of the central N-N bond from double-bond values of about 1.25 via approximately 1.35 in the anion radicals [8] to approximately 1.42 for single bonds in the two-electron-reduced forms (Scheme 1). [9] Whereas coordination of p back-donating metal centers can result in a slight increase of the double-bond length relative to that in the free ligand, [7a] the lengthening caused by successive electron addition is so large and well documented through supporting spectroscopic data [8] that these criteria can be unequivocally applied to establish the bonding situation.In the search for unusual mixed-valent configurations involving ruthenium and other platinum metals [10] we have now obtained the compound [(m-abpy){Ru(acac) 2 } 2 ] from abpy [7] and the neutral precursor [Ru(acac) 2 (CH 3 CN) 2 ] (acac À = 2,4-pentanedionate), [11] separated the meso and rac isomers [12] by chromatography, characterized them by 1 H NMR spectroscopy, [13] and identified them by crystalstructure analysis (Figure 1, Table 1). [14] The molecules show the expected "S-frame" configurations [7a] with the bis-chelating abpy variably twisted; the C-N-N-C torsional angles are 26.18 in the rac form but only 15.58 and 0.08 for the two crystallographically independent molecules of the meso...

Phpy bridged homodinuclear Ru-Ru () and heterodinuclear Ir-Ru complexes () have been developed. Complex induces autophagy towards the cisplatin resistant human breast cancer (MCF7) cell line, whereas is inactive.

Reaction of 3,6-diaryl-1,2,4,5-tetrazines (aryl = R = phenyl, 2-furyl or 2-thienyl) with 2 equiv of Ru(acac)2(CH3CN)2 results in reductive tetrazine ring opening to yield diruthenium complexes [(acac)2Ru(III)(dih-R(2-))Ru(III)(acac)2] bridged by the new 1,2-diiminohydrazido(2-) (dih-R(2-) = HNC(R)NNC(R)NH(2-)) ligands. rac/meso diastereoisomers could be detected and separated for the compounds with R = phenyl and 2-thienyl, all species are diamagnetic and were characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Crystal structure determination of the meso isomers with R = phenyl and 2-thienyl confirmed the 1,2-diiminohydrazido formulation through long N-N (approximately 1.40 A) and short C=N(H) bonds (approximately 1.31 A), implying two bridged ruthenium(III) centers at about 4.765 A distance with strong antiferromagnetic coupling. The complexes undergo two reversible and well-separated one-electron reduction and oxidation processes, respectively. EPR Spectroscopy of the paramagnetic intermediates with comproportionation constants K(c) > 10(12) and UV-vis-NIR spectroelectrochemistry were used to identify the accessible redox states as [(acac)2Ru(II)(dih-R(2-))Ru(II)(acac)2]2-, [(acac)2Ru(II)(dih-R(*-))Ru(II)(acac)2]-, [(acac)2Ru(III)(dih-R(2-))Ru(III)(acac)2], [(acac)2Ru(III)(dih-R(*-))Ru(III)(acac)2]+, and [(acac)2Ru(III)(dih-R)Ru(III)(acac)2]2+. While the UV-vis-NIR spectroscopic response of [(acac)2Ru(dih-R)Ru(acac)2](0/-/2-) is very similar to that of [(bpy)2Ru(adc-R)Ru(bpy)2](4+/3+/2+), adc-R(2-) = 1,2-diacylhydrazido(2-), the EPR result indicating ligand-centered spin for [(acac)2Ru(II)(dih-R(*-))Ru(II)(acac)2]- despite deceptive NIR absorptions around 1400 nm reveals distinct differences in the electronic structures.

The new redox systems [(acac)2 Ru(mu-Q1)Ru(acac)2](n) (1(n)) and [(acac)2 Ru(mu-Q2)Ru(acac)2](n) (2(n)) with Q1 = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione and Q2 = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-diimine were studied for n = +, 0, -, and 2- using UV-Vis-NIR spectroelectrochemistry and, in part, EPR and susceptometry. The ligands can bind the first metal (left) through the phenanthroline nitrogen atoms and the second metal (right) at the o-quinonoid chelate site. The neutral compounds are already different: Compound 1 is formulated as a Ru(II)(mu-Q1)*- Ru(III) species with partially coupled semiquinone and ruthenium(III) centers. In contrast, a Ru(III)(mu-Q2)2- Ru(III) structure is assigned to 2, which shows a weak antiferromagnetic spin-spin interaction (J = -1.14 cm(-1)) and displays an intense half-field signal in the EPR spectrum. The one-electron reduced forms are also differently formulated as Ru(II)(mu-Q1)2- Ru(III) for 1(-) with a Ru(III)-typical EPR response and as Ru(II)(mu-Q2)*- Ru(II) for 2(-) with a radical-type EPR signal at g = 2.0020. In contrast, both 1(2-) and 2(2-) can only be described as Ru(II)(mu-Q)2- Ru(II) species. The monooxidized forms 1(+) and 2(+) show very similar spectroscopy, including a Ru(III)-type EPR signal. Although no unambiguous assignment was possible here for the alternatives Ru(II)(mu-Q)0Ru(III), Ru(III)(mu-Q)2- Ru(IV) or Ru(III)(mu-Q)*- Ru(III), the last description is favored. The reasons for identical or different oxidation state combinations are discussed.

Six mononuclear Ir complexes (1-6) using polypyridyl-pyrazine based ligands (L1 and L2) and {[cp*IrCl(μ-Cl)] and [(ppy)Ir(μ-Cl)]} precursors have been synthesised and characterised. Complexes 1-5 have shown potent anticancer activity against various human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, LNCap, Ishikawa, DU145, PC3 and SKOV3) while complex 6 is found to be inactive. Flow cytometry studies have established that cellular accumulation of the complexes lies in the order 2 > 1 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 which is in accordance with their observed cytotoxicity. No changes in the expression of the proteins like PARP, caspase 9 and beclin-1, Atg12 discard apoptosis and autophagy, respectively. Overexpression of CHOP, activation of MAPKs (P38, JNK, and ERK) and massive cytoplasmic vacuolisation collectively suggest a paraptotic mode of cell death induced by proteasomal dysfunction as well as endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial stress. An intimate relationship between p53, ROS production and extent of cell death has also been established using p53 wild, null and mutant type cancer cells.