“…Although the additions of ct-DNA can induce the photoluminescence enhancements of [Ru(bpy) 2 (taptp)] 2+ and [Ru(phen) 2 (taptp)] 2+ (taptp = 4,5,9,18-tetraazaphenanthreno [9,10-b] triphenylene), but the phen-containing complex has a negligible luminescence in DNAfree water buffer contrast to the strong luminescence for the bpy-containing complex [34]. Recently, We have reported acidbase and/or DNA binding properties of a series of polypyridyl Ru(II) complexes [5,[35][36][37][38]. However, to the best of our knowledge, dual-functional Ru(II) complexes featuring with pH and DNA-induced luminescent molecular switches have been very limited [7,38].…”