Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy serves to identify the (3)dd state as intermediate quencher state of the (3)MLCT luminescence in the non-luminescent ruthenium complexes [Ru(m-bpy)3](2+) (m-bpy = 6-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine) and [Ru(tm-bpy)3](2+) (tm-bpy = 4,4',6,6'-tetramethyl-2',2'-bipyridine). For [Ru(m-bpy)3](2+), the population of the (3)dd state from the (3)MLCT state occurs within 1.6 ps, while the return to the ground state takes 450 ps. For [Ru(tm-bpy)3](2+), the corresponding values are 0.16 and 7.5 ps, respectively. According to DFT calculations, methyl groups added in the 6 and 6' positions of bipyridine stabilize the (3)dd state by ~4000 cm(-1) each, compared to [Ru(bpy)3](2+).

Unprecedented regioselective post-functionalization of racemic and enantiopure cationic diaza [4]helicenes is afforded.

Light-upconversion via stepwise energy transfer from a sensitizer to an activator exploits linear optics for converting low-energy infrared or near-infrared incident photons to higher energy emission. This approach is restricted to activators possessing intermediate long-lived excited states such as those found for trivalent lanthanide cations dispersed in solid-state matrices. When the activator is embedded in a molecular complex, efficient nonradiative relaxation processes usually reduce excited state lifetimes to such an extent that upconversion becomes too inefficient to be detected under practical excitation intensities. Theoretical considerations presented here predict that the combination of at least two millisecond time scale sensitizers with a central lanthanide activator in supramolecular complexes circumvents this bottleneck by creating a novel upconversion pathway, in which successive excitations are stored on the sensitizers prior to inducing stepwise energy transfer processes. Application of this concept to the chromium/erbium pair demonstrates that strong-field trivalent chromium chromophores irradiated with near-infrared photons produce upconverted green erbium-centered emission in discrete dinuclear and trinuclear triple-stranded helicates.

Compared to divalent ruthenium coordination complexes, which are widely exploited as parts of multi-component photonic devices, optically active trivalent chromium complexes are under-represented in multi-metallic supramolecular architectures performing energy conversion mainly because of the tricky preparation of stable heteroleptic Cr building blocks. We herein propose some improvements with the synthesis of a novel family of kinetically inert heteroleptic bis-terdentate mononuclear complexes, which can be incorporated into dinuclear rod-like dyads as a proof-of-concept. The mechanism and magnitude of intermetallic CrCr communication have been unraveled by a combination of magnetic, photophysical and thermodynamic investigations. Alternated aromatic/alkyne connectors provided by Sonogashira coupling reactions emerge as the most efficient wires for long-distance communication between two chromium centres bridged by Janus-type back-to-back bis-terdentate receptors.