New ruthenium nitrosyl complexes with tris(1-pyrazolyl)methane (tpm) and 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) coligands. Structure, spectroscopy, and electrophilic and nucleophilic reactivities of bound nitrosyl.

The new compound Ru(bpy)(tpm)NO3 [tpm = tris(1-pyrazolyl)methane; bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine] has been prepared in a stepwise procedure that involves the conversion of [Ru(bpy)(tpm)Cl]+ into the aqua and nitro intermediates, followed by acidification. The diamagnetic complex crystallizes to exhibit distorted octahedral geometry around the metal, with the Ru-N(O) bond length 1.774(12) A and the RuNO angle 179.1(12) degrees , typical for a {RuNO}6 description. The [Ru(bpy)(tpm)NO]3+ ion (I) has been characterized by 1H NMR and IR spectroscopies (nu(NO) = 1959 cm(-1)) and through density functional theory calculations. Intense electronic transitions in the 300-350-nm region are assigned through time-dependent (TD)DFT as intraligand pi --> pi for bpy and tpm. The dpi --> pi(bpy) metal-to-ligand charge-transfer transitions appear at higher energies. Aqueous cyclic voltammetric studies show a reversible wave at 0.31 V (vs Ag/AgCl, 3 M Cl-), which shifts to 0.60 V in MeCN, along with the onset of a wave of an irreversible process at -0.2 V. The waves are assigned to the one- and two-electron reductions centered at the NO ligand, leading to species with {RuNO}(7) and {RuNO}(8) configurations, respectively. Controlled potential reduction of I in MeCN led to the [Ru(bpy)(tpm)NO]2+ ion (II), revealing a significant downward shift of nu(NO) to 1660 cm(-1) as well as changes in the electronic absorption bands. II was also characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance, showing an anisotropic signal at 110 K that arises from an S = 1/2 electronic ground state; the g-matrix components and hyperfine coupling tensor resemble the behavior of related {RuNO}7 complexes. Both I and II were characterized through their main reactivity modes, electrophilic and nucleophilic, respectively. The addition of OH- into I generated the nitro complex, with k(OH) = 3.05 x 10(6) M(-1) s(-1) (25 degrees C). This value is among the highest obtained for related nitrosyl complexes and correlates with ENO+/NO, the one-electron redox potential. Complex II is a robust species toward NO release, although a conversion to I was observed in the presence of O2. This reaction afforded a second-order rate law with k = 3.5 M(-1) s(-1) (25 degrees C). The stabilization of the NO radical complex is attributed to the high positive charge of the precursor and to the geometrical and electronic structure as determined by the neutral tpm ligand.