While the relaxed excited state of tris-(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II), [Ru(bpy)3]2+, is best described as a metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) state having one formally reduced bipyridine and two neutral, questions still remain regarding the nature of the initial excited state and the dynamics that drive the formation of the thermalized 3MLCT state. Ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption anisotropy measurements of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ and related derivatives have been done in order to gain new insights into this excited-state evolution process. Experiments utilizing sub-50 fs pulses were performed at multiple excitation wavelengths in a series of nitrile solvents with increasing chain length to study the impact the inertial solvent response has on excited-state evolution. Modified derivatives of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ were studied in order to probe how the dynamics were influenced when the substituents on the molecule were altered to essentially shield the solvent from the charge redistribution of the chromophore upon excitation.

Investigating the relationship between solvent dynamics and excited-state evolution in Ruthenium-based complexes

245th National Meeting (2013)

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