New luminescent and redox-active homometallic dinuclear iridium(iii), ruthenium(ii) and osmium(ii) complexes prepared by metal-catalyzed coupling reactionsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: spectral data for 1–4, cyclic voltammogram for 3 and absorption and emission spectra for 1–3. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b0/b006456o/

Abstract

Four new homometallic dinuclear Ir^III, Ru^II and Os^II complexes are prepared and their luminescence properties and redox behavior are reported; the bis-phenathroline bridging ligand is found to isolate the two components of each dinuclear system because of its unusual nonplanar structure.