The reaction of [Ir(C³,N'-bpy) (bpy)₂]²⁺ with OH radicals and radiation induced covalent binding of the complex to several polymers in aqueous solutions

Irradiation of aqueous solutions of left bracket Ir(C**3,N prime -bpy) (bpy)//2 right bracket **2** plus (IrP) produces a variety of OH adducts to IrP. The OH adducts decay by two second order processes separated in time. In the presence of both IrP and a soluble polymer, the OH radicals are shared between the IrP and the polymer, simultaneously producing OH adducts and polymer radicals. This is followed by radical-radical reactions. The rate constants of the various reactions between the OH adducts and the polymer radicals have been determined. The products of reactions of the OH adducts with polyethylene glycol radicals, polybrene radicals, and polystyrene sulfonate radicals are the respective polymers covalently linked to the iridium complex. This has been shown by dialysis as well as by spectral measurements. IrP behaves similarly to Ru(bpy)//3**2** plus , which was studied before. This indicates that the radiation method may have a general use in the preparation of polymers with pendant bpy complexes.