Heteroleptic Ru(II)-terpyridine complex and its metal-containing conducting polymer: Synthesis and characterization

• Heteroleptic Ru(II) complex with two different terpyridine ligands.
• Electrochemical, photophysical and computational characterization.
• Electropolymerization through the terthiophene substituent on a terpyrdine ligand.
• Preliminary photoelectrochemical tests.

The heteroleptic ruthenium(II) complex, [(TAT)Ru(Tpy-COOH)]2+ (TAT = 4′-[(2,2′:5′,2′'-terthien-3′-ethynyl]-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine; Tpy-COOH = 4,4′,4″-tricarboxylate-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine), bearing two different terpyridine ligands, has been synthesized. Its aptitude to generate the corresponding metallopolymer, due to the presence of the terthiophene moiety on the other terpyridine ligand, has been investigated, and the polymer species has been characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. On the basis of computational, optical and electrochemical data, a preliminary test to check the ability of the complex to act as sensitizer in DSSC devices, thanks to the anchoring COOH groups on a terpyridine ligand, has been performed.