Electron-Rich Arene-Ruthenium Metalla-architectures Incorporating Tetrapyridyl-Tetrathiafulvene Donor Moieties

A series of arene ruthenium architectures have been prepd. from coordination-driven self-assembly using dinuclear p-cymene ruthenium acceptors and ?-donating tetratopic tetrapyridyl-tetrathiafulvalene donor ligands. The synthetic strategy, based on a geometric interaction approach, leads to four electroactive metalla-assemblies, 1-4 (one mol. cube and three metallaplates), that were characterized by NMR, ESI-MS, X-ray diffraction, and cyclic voltammetry. Rationalization of their formation discrepancy was completed by DFT calcns. supported by structural features of their constituting TTF and Ru-complex components. Metalla-architectures possessing electron-rich cores (3, cis-4, and trans-4) interact strongly with picric acid (PA) to yield cocrystd. products, PA + metalla-assemblies, confirmed by single-crystal X-ray structure analyses. [on SciFinder(R)]