Patent ID: 7169948

Claim:
A neutral ruthenium (II) complex of formula (I) or a salt of an anionic ruthenium complex of formula (I) with cations Q: [RuA a M m P p W] r (I) wherein: A represents a halogen chosen form the group consisting of Cl − and Br − W represents NO + M represents SOR 1 R 2 P represents NR 3 R 4 R 5 , or LRuA a M m W a is a whole number between 3 and 4 m is a whole number between 0 and 2 p is a whole number between 0 and 1 r can be 0, −1, −2 being a+m+p=5 wherein: R 1 and R 2 are identical or different from each other and represent C 1 –C 6 alkyl, C 3 –C 7 cycloalkyl, phenyl or aryl, or R 1 and R 2 form a 5–7 term heterocyclic ring together with the sulphur atom; R 3 , R 4 and R 5 are identical or different from each other and represent hydrogen, saturated or unsaturated C 1 –C 6 linear or branched alkyl, C 3 –C 7 cycloalkyl, phenyl or aryl, or NR 3 R 4 R 5 is a saturated or unsaturated 5–7 term nitrogen heterocyclic compound optionally containing at least one additional eteroatom chosen from O, S, N, the latter being optionally substituted with a C 1 –C 4 alkyl, aryl, benzyl residue, said nitrogen heterocyclic compound being optionally benzocondensed and/or substituted with C 1 –C 4 alkyl, C 1 –C 4 alcoxyl, C 1 –C 4 alkylthio, benzyl or aryl; L represents a heterocyclic ligand containing at least two nitrogen atoms whose electron pairs are involved in the bond with the two ruthenium atoms present in the complex, with the proviso that when said nitrogen atoms are not contained on the same heterocyclic ring L is B′—X—B″, B′ and B″ being nitrogen heterocyclic compounds and X being chosen from the group consisting of —COO—, —O—, —(CH 2 ) n —, —(CH=CH) n —, -(aryl) n -, -(heterocyclic compound) n -, —CH=CH-Phe-C H=CH—, —(C≡C) n —, with n between 0 and 4, with the proviso that when p=0 it is not M=SO(CH 3 ) 2 or M=SO(CH 2 CH 3 ) 2 .