Ligand-ligand charge-transfer excited states of Os(II) complexes

This paper examines the photophysics of metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) and ligand-to-ligand charge-transfer (LLCT) excited states in a series of ((bpy){sub 2}Os{sup II}(CO)L){sup 2+} (Os-L) complexes. For each of the complexes studied, the d{pi}(Os) {yields} {pi}*(bpy) absorption band is the lowest energy transition that is apparent. For L = pyridine and benzonitrile, only long-lived, highly luminescent MLCT states are observed. However, when L = an electron-donor aminobenzonitrile (ABN) species (DMABN, TMABN, or CMI; see text), MLCT emission is quenched and in < 30 ps LLCT excited states are formed, *((bpy{sup {sm bullet}{minus}})-(bpy)OS{sup II}(CO)ABN{sup {sm bullet}+}){sup 2+}. The observed, weight-average radiationless decays of the LLCT excited states in acetonitrile and dichloromethane follow the squence Os-DMABN < Os-TMABN < Os-CMI in each solvent, and the calculated energies of the LLCT states for these complexes are in inverse order to the decay rates as expected if an energy gap law is followed. Finally, multiexponential relaxations of the LLCT states are pronounced in the nonpolar solvent dichloromethane. The dependence of these relaxations on the concentration of added electrolyte suggests that they may be due to ion-pair structure and dynamics.