TAILOR-MADE COORDINATION-COMPOUNDS FOR PHOTOCHEMICAL PURPOSES

An account of the strategies for the synthesis of coordination compoun ds with interesting photophysical and photochemical properties is give n. Ru(II)-diimine complexes have been developed with various absorptio n and emission characteristics and for special chemical stability of t he excited state species. The isomer problem, encountered in the synth esis of polynuclear complexes, which are candidates for Photochemical Molecular Devices (PMD), is attacked by using enantiomerically pure ch iral building blocks or chiragen ligands, which form metal complexes w ith predetermined helical chirality. Cyclometallating ligands with Pt( II) and Pd(II) can be designed, so that the photochemically induced ox idative addition reactions lead to compounds of special interest, espe cially from the stereochemical point of view.