A bis-bipyridine osmium(ii) complex with an N,S-chelating 2-aminoethanesulfinate: photoinduced conversion of an amine to an imine donor group by air oxidationElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Details of syntheses together with spectroscopic data and X-ray structure. CCDC 834770 and 834771. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c1cc14342e

Treatment of [Os(bpy) 2 Cl 2 ] (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine) with 2-aminoethanethiolate was accompanied by air oxidation to give [Os(2-aminoethanesulfinato- N , S )(bpy) 2 ] + ([ 1 ] + ), which was further oxidized by air to be converted into [Os(2-iminoethanesulfinato -N , S )(bpy) 2 ] + ([ 2 ] + ) under photoirradiation. Complex [ 2 ] + was reverted back to [ 1 ] + by treatment with BH 4 − . An aminosulfinato-type Os II complex was synthesized by treatment of [Os(bpy) 2 Cl 2 ] with 2-aminoethanethiolate under aerobic conditions, which was converted to an iminosulfinato-type complex upon photoirradiation.