Boronic acid-substituted metal complexes: versatile building blocks for the synthesis of multimetallic assemblies

Polypyridyl complexes of Ru(II) and Ir(III) incorporating a boronic acid substituent undergo cross-coupling with bromo-substituted complexes, and a sequential coupling–bromination–coupling strategy permits the controlled synthesis of a luminescent Y-shaped heterometallic assembly, in which efficient energy transfer to the terminus occurs.