The "complexes as metal/complexes as ligand" strategy has been used to prepare new polynuclear heterometallic complexes containing two, 3, 4, and ten metal units. The metal ions employed are Ru(2+), Os(2+), and Pt(2+); the bridging ligands are 2,3- and 2,5-dpp (dpp = bis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine), and the terminal ligands are Cl(-) and bpy (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine). [Os(bpy)(2)(mu-2,3-dpp)Ru[(mu-2,3-dpp)PtCl(2)](2)](PF(6))(4) (OsRuPt(2)) and [Os[(mu-2,3-dpp)Ru[(mu-2,3-dpp)PtCl(2)](2)](3)](PF(6))(8) (OsRu(3)Pt(6)), which have a dendritic structure, are the first examples of polynuclear complexes based on the dpp bridging ligand simultaneously containing three different metals. All of the new compounds feature absorption spectra with intense ligand-centered transitions in the UV region and metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) bands in the visible region. The complexes are luminescent both at room temperature in acetonitrile solution and at 77 K in butyronitrile rigid matrix. OsRuPt(2) and OsRu(3)Pt(6) luminesce in the near-infrared spectral region at 975 and 875 nm, respectively, at room temperature. This indicates that the emitting state is a (formally triplet) MLCT involving Os(2+) and the bridging ligand mu-2,3-dpp and that all the absorbed energy is efficiently channeled to the single Os-based unit. OsRu(3)Pt(6) appears to be the first decanuclear species displaying such efficient antenna effect.

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This study aims at determining the effectiveness of the Bilingual Education Italy (BEI) project as opposed to monolingual programmes in primary education in Italy, a country with low exposure to English as a foreign language. The BEI project originated from a memorandum of understanding between the Directorate-General for Educational Systems and School Autonomy of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry for Universities and Research, and the British Council. The research questions focus on the difference in the performance in English, oral mathematics and oral Italian between BEI and non-BEI students. To answer them, a statistical analysis of the English language competence state test in two primary schools involved in the BEI project was carried out. A descriptive analysis of the scores obtained by BEI and non-BEI students was performed, followed by the analysis of the correlation between the scores in English, Italian and mathematics, and a linear regression considering all the relevant variables. The results point to an advantage of BEI students over non-BEI ones.