Facile synthesis of new fullerene–Ru(bpy)3 dyads bearing phosphonate groups for hybrid organic–inorganic materials

Fullerene reacted with mono- and diphosphonate-bearing bipyridines by way of Bingel-type reactions to give adducts which were easily transformed in the corresponding dyads by forming Ru(bpy)3 complexes. Electrochemical measurements and the observation of heavy quenching of the Ru(bpy)3 luminescence manifested strong interactions between the active moieties. Attempts to include the dyads into inorganic matrices derived from zirconium phosphate are reported.