Synthesis, photophysics and photochemistry of novel luminescent rhenium(I) photoswitchable materials

Abstract

A series of new mono- and bi-nuclear rhenium(I) complexes, [Re(CO)3(N–N)L]ClO4 and [{Re(CO)3(N–N)}2L′][ClO4]2[where N–N = 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) or 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) and L = 4-phenylazopyridine (phazo), 4-styrylpyridine (stypy), 4-pyridyl-2-ethylbenzene (NB); L′= 4,4′-azopyridine (azo), 1,4-bis(4-pyridyl-2-ethyl)benzene (NBN)] are prepared and shown to exhibit rich photophysical and photochemical behaviour; the X-ray crystal structure of a binuclear [{Re(CO)3(bpy)}2(NBN)][PF6]2 complex is determined.