Synthetic procedures have been developed for the preparation ofligands bearing two to six pendent, unsubstituted or substituted 2,2'-bipyridine groups attached to acyclic (tripode, tetrapode) and macrocyclic (triazanonadecane, cyclam, hexacyclen, bis(bipyrido)hexaazamacrocycle) polyamines. Ligands 1-5 have been obtained in high yield by condensation of 6-(bromomethyl)-2,2'-bipyridine (9b) with the corresponding amines in the presence of NaOH, H20, and MeOH. Ligands &8 have been prepared in good yield by condensation of 9b or the di-or tetrasubstituted mono(bromomethy1)bipyridine 10b or l l b , respectively, with the corresponding amines in the presence of Na2C03 and MeCN. Ligand 1 forms hemi-cage complexes with Ru", Fe", Cr", and Cr"' cations and trinuclear complexes with [R~Cl,(bpy)~] and [ReCI(CO)5]. Tetrapode 2 and hexapode 4 gave tetranuclear and dinuclear complexes, respectively, by reaction with Fe" salts. These complexes possess a variety of interesting physical and chemical properties.Introduction. -The coordination chemistry of 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) ligands has received considerable interest in the past two decades [l]. The properties of the long-lived, luminescent, metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer state, characteristic of polypyridine transition-metal complexes, enable these compounds to sensitize photoinduced electron-transfer and energy-transfer processes [2-41. These attractive features prompted the introduction of the bpy subunit into macrocyclic [5-91 and mdcrobicyclic structures [6] [10-14], thus, yielding ligands capable of forming photoactive metal-cage complexes. In particular, inclusion complexes of lanthanides [ 15-1 71 and ruthenium(I1) [ 181 [ 191 have been shown to combine the features of polycyclic structures with the properties associated with bpy groups. Less rigid (e. g . acyclic or branched) polydentade complexing agents allow binding properties and structural flexibility to be combined and are well adapted for the synthesis of hemi-caged metal complexes. Moreover, these kinds of ligands are suitable for the preparation of polymetallic complexes which are of interest for their potential multiredox and catalytic properties. One could also envisage that caged or hemi-caged metal ions would prevent ligand photodissociation, hence increasing both excited-state life-times and luminescence quantum yields [18] [20].Pyridine tripode-type ligands, such as tris[(pyrid-2-yl)methyl]amine, were first synthesized twenty years ago [21], and the stability constants of their numerous first-row-transition-metal complexes have been determined [22] [25], bis[2-(pyrid-2-yl)ethyl]amine connected by alkyl chains of varying lengths [26], and tetrakis(picoly1)diamine joined together by a C , or C, chain [27]. Polyazamacrocycles functionalized