Neutral ruthenium(II) complexes of phenylcyanamido ligands

Neutral Ru(II) complexes with the formula trans-[Ru(trpy*)(L2)(pcyd)] have been prepared, where trpy* = 4,4′,4″-tri-tert-butyl-terpyridine, L2 = 2-pyrazinecarboxylato (pca), 2-pyridinecarboxylato (pic), acetylacetonato (acac) and pcyd is a substituted phenylcyanamido ligand. Spectroelectrochemistry was performed on these Ru(II) complexes to obtain the visible absorption spectrum of the Ru(III)-cyanamide ligand-to-metal charge transfer chromophore. The Ru(III)-cyanamide coupling elements of these singly charged Ru(III) complexes were comparable to those of doubly charge complexes in the literature.