Crystal structure of a mononuclear Ru(II) complex with a back-to-back terpyridine ligand: [RuCl(bpy)(tpy-tpy)](.).

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We report the structural characterization of [6',6''-bis-(pyridin-2-yl)-2,2':4',4'':2'',2'''-quaterpyridine](2,2'-bi-pyridine)-chlorido-ruthenium(II) hexa-fluorido-phosphate, [RuCl(C10H8N2)(C30H20N6)]PF6, which contains the bidentate ligand 2,2'-bi-pyridine (bpy) and the tridendate ligand 6',6''-bis-(pyridin-2-yl)-2,2':4',4'':2'',2'''-quaterpyridine (tpy-tpy). The [RuCl(bpy)(tpy-tpy)](+) monocation has a distorted octa-hedral geometry at the central Ru(II) ion due to the restricted bite angle [159.32 (16)°] of the tridendate ligand. The Ru-bound tpy and bpy moieties are nearly planar and essentially perpendicular to each other with a dihedral angle of 89.78 (11)° between the least-squares planes. The lengths of the two Ru-N bonds for bpy are 2.028 (4) and 2.075 (4) Å, with the shorter bond being opposite to Ru-Cl. For tpy-tpy, the mean Ru-N distance involving the outer N atoms trans to each other is 2.053 (8) Å, whereas the length of the much shorter bond involving the central N atom is 1.936 (4) Å. The Ru-Cl distance is 2.3982 (16) Å. The free uncoordinated moiety of tpy-tpy adopts a trans,trans conformation about the inter-annular C-C bonds, with adjacent pyridyl rings being only approximately coplanar. The crystal packing shows significant π-π stacking inter-actions based on tpy-tpy. The crystal structure reported here is the first for a tpy-tpy complex of ruthenium.