title: Anion-regulated electronic communication in a cyclometalated diruthenium complex with a urea bridge.
abstract: A combined study of electrochemical measurements, intervalence charge transfer analysis, and DFT calculations suggests that the degree of urea-mediated electronic coupling between two cyclometalated ruthenium sites is enhanced by the coordination of urea with Br-or Cl-via hydrogen bonding. In contrast, the redox waves of the diruthenium complex become highly irreversible in the presence of relatively strong basic anions such as H2PO4-, F-, or OAc-. This work demonstrates that the anion-urea interaction can be employed to regulate the electronic coupling and electron transfer between redox-active sites, suggesting the potential applications of the urea-functionalized diruthenium complex in anion sensing and stimuli-responsive molecular electronics.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. zhongyuwu@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhong-Liang
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. zhongyuwu@iccas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Li-Ye
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. zhongyuwu@iccas.ac.cn and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Wu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0712-0374
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Photochemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. zhongyuwu@iccas.ac.cn and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jiannian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao