PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOPHYSICS OF METAL
COMPLEXES WITH DENDRITIC LIGANDS
VINCENZO BALZANI, GIACOMO BERGAMINI and PAOLA CERONI
Dipartimento di Chimica“G. Ciamician”, Università di Bologna, via Selmi 2, Bologna, ItalyI. Dendrimers: A New Class of Ligands 106
II. Intrinsic Photochemical and Photophysical Properties of
Organic Dendrimers 108
III. Dendrimers with One or More Metal Complexes as
Branching Centers 113
A. A Metal Complex as Core 113
B. Dendrimers with Metal Complexes as Branching Centers 115
IV. Coordination of Metal Ions Inside Dendrimers 117
A. Dendrimers with Multiple Coordination Sites 118
B. Dendrimers with a Single Coordination Site 123
V. Coordination of Dendrimers Around Metal Ions 124
A. Coordination of Dendrimers Alone 124
B. Coordination of Dendrimers and Other Ligands 127
VI. Conclusion 132
References 133
ABSTRACTCombinations of suitably chosen metal ions and dendritic lig-
ands may lead to giant metal complexes that display interesting
spectroscopic properties, particularly as far as luminescence is
concerned. This chapter illustrates some fundamental aspects
of the interaction of light with dendrimers and then reviews
results obtained with dendrimers (i) containing one or more
metal complexes as branching centers or as a core, (ii) capable
of coordinating one or more metal ions in their cavities, (iii)
assembled around metal ions without or with other ligands.
The study of the luminescent properties reveals that these com-
pounds can be useful for several purposes, including light
harvesting, sensing with signal amplification, conversion of the
absorbed light into emitted light of quite different wavelengths
(e.g., UV light into IR light), and information processing.
105INORGANIC PHOTOCHEMISTRY #2011 Elsevier Inc.
VOLUME 63 ISSN 0898-8838 / DOI:10.1016/B978-0-12-385904-4.00008-1 All rights reserved