Photoisomerization Mechanism of Ruthenium Sulfoxide Complexes: Role of the Metal-Centered Excited State in the Bond Rupture and Bond Construction Processes

Phototriggered intramolecular isomerization in a series of ruthenium sulfoxide complexes, [Ru(L)(tpy)(DMSO)]n+ (where tpy=2,2’:6’,2’’‐terpyridine; DMSO=dimethyl sulfoxide; L=2,2’‐bipyridine (bpy), n=2; N,N,N’,N’‐tetramethylethylenediamine (tmen) n=2; picolinate (pic), n=1; acetylacetonate (acac), n=1; oxalate (ox), n=0; malonate (mal), n=0), was investigated theoretically. It is observed that the metal‐centered ligand field (3MC) state plays an important role in the excited state S→O isomerization of the coordinated DMSO ligand. If the population of 3MCS state is thermally accessible and no 3MCO can be populated from this state, photoisomerization will be turned off because the 3MCS excited state is expected to lead to fast radiationless decay back to the original 1GSS ground state or photodecomposition along the Ru2+−S stretching coordinate. On the contrary, if the population of 3MCS (or 3MCO) state is inaccessible, photoinduced S→O isomerization can proceed adiabatically on the potential energy surface of the metal‐to‐ligand charge transfer excited states (3MLCTS→3MLCTO). It is hoped that these results can provide valuable information for the excited state isomerization in photochromic d6 transition‐metal complexes, which is both experimentally and intellectually challenging as a field of study. It′s a make or break: Phototriggered intramolecular isomerization in a series of ruthenium sulfoxide complexes was investigated theoretically. It is observed that the metal‐centered ligand field (3MC) state plays an important role in the excited state S→O isomerization of the coordinated DMSO ligand. Also, it is demonstrated that the relative position of the 3MLCTS and 3MCS states of [Ru(L)(tpy)(DMSO)]n+ complexes are mainly governed by Ru−S bond strength between DMSO ligand and ruthenium center (see figure).