Photoinduced electron transfer reaction of tris(4,4′-dicarboxyl-2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(ii) ion with organic sulfides

Abstract

[Ru(dcbpy)₃]²⁺ (dcbpy = 4,4′-dicarboxyl-2,2′-bipyridine) ion, in the excited state, undergoes facile electron transfer (ET) reaction with aryl methyl and dialkyl sulfides and the quenching rate constant, k_q value is sensitive to the structure of the sulfide. The detection of the sulfur radical cation in this system using time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy confirms the ET nature of the reaction. The semiclassical theory of ET has been successfully applied to the photoluminescence quenching of [Ru(dcbpy)₃]²⁺ with sulfides. This is the first report for the generation and detection of sulfide radical cations from the excited state reaction of Ru(II) complex with organic sulfides.