Bridging ligand planarity as a route to long-lived, near infrared emitting dinuclear ruthenium(ii) complexes

The dinuclear ruthenium complex of a large, planar bis-tridentate bridging ligand has been prepared; to the best of our knowledge, this species is the near IR-emitting Ru(II) complex exhibiting the longest-lived emission and highest quantum yield reported so far, due to the dramatic reduction in its radiationless decay rate constant.