Inner-sphere electron transfer at the ruthenium-azo interface.

Metal complexes exhibiting multiple reversible redox states have drawn continuing research interest due to their electron reservoir features. In this context, the present article describes ruthenium-acac complexes (acac = acetylacetonate) incorporating redox-active azo-derived abim (azobis(1-methylbenzimidazole)) in mononuclear [Ru(acac)(abim)] (1) and dinuclear [{Ru(acac)}(μ-abim)] (2)/[{Ru(acac)}(μ-abim˙)]ClO ([2]ClO) frameworks. Structural, spectroscopic, electrochemical, and theoretical analysis of the complexes revealed the varying redox states of the azo functionality of abim, , [-NN-], [-NN-]˙, and [-N-N-] in 1, [2]ClO, and 2, respectively. Comparison between the calculated azo bond distances of analogous {Ru(acac)}-coordinated azoheteroaromatics, , abim and previously reported abbt (azobis(benzothiazole)) and abpy (azobis(pyridine)) examples, revealed the impact of varying amounts of intramolecular metal-to-azo electron transfer (, the case of back-bonding) on stabilising radical anionic ([-NN-]˙) and hydrazido ([-N-N-]) bridging modes in the complexes. An evaluation of the electronic forms of the complexes in accessible redox states combined experimental and theoretical studies suggested a preferred resonance configuration rather than a precise description, primarily due to the severe mixing of metal-abim frontier orbitals. Moreover, the newly developed corresponding Cu-abim complex CuI2(μ-abim) (3) demonstrated the unique scenario of varying bridging modes of abim within the same molecular unit, involving both coordinated and non-coordinated azo functionalities. This also reemphasised the concept of the coordination-induced lengthening of the azo bond of abim (∼1.30 Å), dπ(Cu) → π*(azo, abim) back-bonding, with reference to its non-coordinating counterpart (1.265(6) Å).