A “Pretender” Croconate-Bridged Macrocyclic Tetraruthenium Complex: Sizable Redox Potential Splittings despite Electronically Insulated Divinylphenylene Diruthenium Entities

Abstract

Careful optimization of the reaction conditions provided access to the particularly small tetraruthenium macrocycle 2Ru2Ph-Croc, which is composed out of two redox-active divinylphenylene-bridged diruthenium entities {Ru}-1,4-CH=CH-C6H4-CH=CH-{Ru} (Ru2Ph; {Ru} = Ru(CO)Cl(PiPr3)2) and two likewise redox-active and potentially non-innocent croconate linkers. According to single X-ray diffraction analysis, the central cavity of 2Ru2Ph-Croc is shielded by the bulky PiPr3 ligands, which come into close contact. Cyclic voltammetry revealed two pairs of split anodic waves in the weakly ion pairing CH2Cl2/NBu4BArF24 (BArF24 = [B{C6H3(CF3)2-3,5}4]− electrolyte, while the third and fourth waves fall together in CH2Cl2/NBu4PF6. The various oxidized forms were electrogenerated and scrutinized by IR and UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy. This allowed us to assign the individual oxidations to the metal-organic Ru2Ph entities within 2Ru2Ph-Croc, while the croconate ligands remain largely uninvolved. The lack of specific NIR bands that could be assigned to intervalence charge transfer (IVCT) in the mono- and trications indicates that these mixed-valent species are strictly charge-localized. 2Ru2Ph-Croc is hence an exemplary case, where stepwise IR band shifts and quite sizable redox splittings between consecutive one-electron oxidations would, on first sight, point to electronic coupling, but are exclusively due to electrostatic and inductive effects. This makes 2Ru2Ph-Croc a true “pretender”.