Optical oxygen sensing materials based on trinuclear starburst ruthenium(II) complexes assembled in mesoporous silica

The preparation and oxygen sensing properties of optical materials based on two trinuclear starburst ruthenium(II) complexes: [Ru3(bpy)6(TMMB)]6+ (1) and [Ru3(phen)6(TMMB)]6+ (2) (bpy=2,2′-bpyridine, phen=1,10-phenathroline, TMMB=1,3,5-tris[2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazoyl]methylbenzene) assembled in two mesoporous silicate (MS) are described in this paper. The luminescence of Ru complexes/silicate assemble materials can be quenched by molecular oxygen with good sensitivity (I0/I1>5 for 2/MS and I0/I1>3 for 1/MS), indicating that trinuclear starburst Ru(II) complexes/MS systems are sensitive to oxygen molecules.