Conformational Switching in the Thermal and Photochemical Synthesis of cis- and trans-Ruthenium Bis(bipyridine) Sulfoxide Complexes

The preparation of ruthenium bis(bipyridine) sulfoxides has been carried out under thermal or photochemical conditions, leading to good yields of products with trans or cis configurations, and the configuration of the starting material has also been observed to influence the preferred structure of the final product.