Monday, 10 July 4:00pm – 5:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 4 and Online (Zoom) Please email chemistry.researchsupport@sydney.edu.au for zoom link and password.

Speaker: Harrison Moore, University of Sydney

Host: Professor Deanna D’Alessandro and Prof. Peter Lay

Title: Investigations of Ruthenium Charge-Transfer Complexes and Extended Materials

Abstract: The Creutz-Taube ion, synthesised in 1969 by Carol Creutz and Henry Taube, initiated decades of research into intramolecular electron transfer between dinuclear metal centres. In particular, significant efforts have been devoted to ruthenium and osmium dinuclear complexes with pyridyl and polypyridyl bridges. Such systems are significant by virtue of their easily accessible redox couples and high electron density, resulting in pronounced charge transfer behaviour. While these systems have been used to develop 1D polymers, 2D and 3D materials are relatively rare.

A family of coordination complexes trans-[Ru(acac)2(X)2] have been developed as metalloligands. These complexes have been used to produce coordination polymers with closely related behaviours. This work elucidates electronic trends and relationships within this family of ruthenium complexes and coordination polymers by leveraging several analytic techniques, including electrochemistry, spectroscopy and density functional theory. By applying these analytical techniques to discrete, polymer and host-guest systems that incorporate similar Ru motifs, we can demonstrate similarities and differences between these systems, as well as trends that could lead to functionalised systems in the future.