Sweetness and light: Sugar-functionalized C^N and N^N ligands in [Ir(C^N)2(N^N)]Cl complexes

Sugars represent a readily available entry into the chiral pool and possess a multivalent functionality allowing specific functionalzation for attachment to scaffolds possessing programmed properties. We report a series of cyclometallated iridium(III) complexes [Ir(C^N) 2 (N^N)][PF 6 ] in which a photo- and redox-active iridium scaffold is functionalized with ribofuranose substituents. The localization of HOMO and LUMO character in different parts of the iridium core is retained in the conjugates and proof-of-concept compounds with the ribofuranose attached to the C^N and N^N ligands confirm that the photophysical and redox properties may be refined utilizing the well-established algorithms.