The photoactivation of Ru(II) complexes have been used in a number of applications, including solar energy conversion, sensors, and photoinduced drug delivery. The triplet metal-to-ligand charge transfer (3MLCT) excited state in these complexes is typically deactivated through a thermally accessible triplet metal-centered, ligand-field state (3LF). While a high-energy 3LF state is necessary to achieve a long-lived, emissive 3MLCT state for apllications that require energy/charge transfer, a low-lying 3LF state is desirable for the efficient drug delivery. Therefore, understanding the structural and electronic molecular features that affect the relative energies of these states is critical for optimizing the desired excited state properties for a given purpose. Properties desirable for optimizing the performance of these complexes will be discussed, along with examples of complexes that are able to both release a drug molecule upon irradiation and produce singlet oxygen to achieve cell death. These dual activity complexes are significantly more active than those that can either photorelease drugs or generate singlet oxygen.
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