A new tetradentate dinucleating ligand [1,1′-(4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3,5-diyl)bis(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethanol)] (Hpbl) containing an O/N mixed donor set of atoms has been synthesized and characterized by analytical and spectroscopic techniques. The Ru–Cl and Ru–aqua complexes containing this ligand of general formula [RuIIX(Hpbl)(trpy)]y+ (trpy = 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine; X = Cl, y = 1; X = H2O, y = 2) have been prepared and thoroughly characterized by spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques. The Ru–aqua complex 2 undergoes N → O linkage isomerization as observed electrochemically, and the related thermodynamic and kinetic parameters are extracted from cyclic voltammetry experiments together with DIGISIM, a CV simulation package. Under basic conditions an additional isomer is observed where the pyrazolyl group in the Hpbl ligand is replaced by the geminal pyridyl group. Further structural and electronic characterization of all the isomers has been carried out by means of DFT calculations.
