Electronic structure alternatives in nitrosylruthenium complexes

Abstract

Coordination compounds [Ru(NO)L_n] containing an electro-active metal and potentially non-innocent ligands NO (and L) can have ground state electronic structures formulated as Ru^III(NO⁺) = {RuNO}⁵, Ru^II(NO⁺) = {RuNO}⁶, Ru^II(NO-) = {RuNO}⁷ or Ru^II(NO-) = {RuNO}⁸. The neighbouring states of the {RuNO}⁶ systems can be accessed by spectroelectrochemical methods or through chemical reactions. The co-ligands L_n affect the electronic structures of the quite variable {RuNO}⁶ examples, in contrast to the more invariant {RuNO}⁷ species. Potential electro-active co-ligands L such as porphyrins or quinones provide additional alternatives for the electronic structures.