Metal complex dendrimers luminescence properties

Polynuclear dendrimer complexes of this type can undergo redox reactions at the metal centre and have luminescent properties. They have been proposed as molecular photochemical devices, although no practical examples have yet been produced. 

Other first-generation dendrimers built around multichelating ligands are the trinuclear complexes 29 - 38 [50-52] and several hexanuclear complexes (for representative examples, see 39 and 40) [53]. In all of these compounds, the photophysical properties are equivalent to those of their building blocks. In the mixed-metal complexes 31 and 34 [50b] the Ru(II)- and Os(II)-based chromo-phores are only weakly-coupled and a dual luminescence is observed. 

The first photophysical investigation performed on stereochemically pure metal-based dendrimers having a metal complex as the core is that concerning the tetranuclear species based on a [Ru(tpphz)3]2+ core (tpphz=tetrapyrido[3,2-a 2, 3 -c 3",2"-h 2",3"j]phenazine) [67]. Dendrimer 45 is an example of this family. In this compound, two different types of MLCT excited states, coupled by a medium- and temperature-dependent photoinduced electron transfer, are responsible for the luminescence behavior. However, the properties of all the optical isomers of this family of compounds are very similar. This finding is also in... 

A first generation poly(amido amine) dendrimer has been functionalized with three calyx[4]arenes, each carrying a pyrene fluorophore (4) [30]. In acetonitrile solution the emission spectrum shows both the monomer and the excimer emission band, typical of the pyrene chromophore. Upon addition of Al3+ as perchlorate salt, a decrease in the excimer emission and a consequent revival of the monomer emission is observed. This can be interpreted as a change in the dendrimer structure and flexibility upon metal ion complexation that inhibits close proximity of pyrenyl units, thus decreasing the excimer formation probability. 1H NMR studies of dendrimer 4 revealed marked differences upon Al3+ addition only in the chemical shifts of the CH2 protons linked to the central amine group, demonstrating that the metal ion is coordinated by the dendrimer core. MALDI-TOF experiments gave evidence of a 1 1 complex. Similar results have been obtained for In3+, while other cations such as Ag+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ do not affect the luminescence properties of... 

Balzani et al. prepared dendrimers with metal complexes serving both as core [36] and as branching unit The metallodendrimer in Fig. 2.10 is constructed solely from polypyridine ligands and transition metal ions. Such dendritic transition metal complexes can be synthesised both convergently and divergently and different transition metal ions (ruthenium/osmium) can be incorporated. This provides a means of influencing the luminescence properties of the den-drimer. Thus the energy transfer process proceeds from the inside outwards in... 

PBE dendrons bearing a focal bipyridine moiety have been demonstrated to coordinate to Ru + cations, exhibiting luminescence from the metal cation core by the excitation of the dendron subunits [28-30]. The terminal peripheral unit was examined (e.g., phenyl, naphthyl, 4-f-butylphenyl) to control the luminescence. The Ru +-cored dendrimer complexes are thought to be photo/redox-active, and photophysical properties, electrochemical behavior, and excited-state electron-transfer reactions are reported. 

In order to build up dendrimers crqrable of exhibiting redox activity and light-induced functions, appropriate building blocks have to be used. In the last 20 years, extensive investigations carried out on the photochemical and electrochemical properties of transition metal compounds have shown that Ru(II) and Os(ll) complexes of aromatic M-heterocycles (Figure 1), e.g., Ru(bpy)j and Os(bpy)j (bpy = 2,2 -bipyridine), exhibit a unique combination of chemical stability, redox properties, excited state reactivity, luminescence, and excited state lifetime. Furthermore all these properties can be tuned within rather broad ranges by... 

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