Q ultrapurification system

All reagents were purchased from commercial sources (e.g., Sigma) and directly used unless stated otherwise. Solvents were purified by the most used methods. All solutions and buffers were prepared with using metal-free water that was passed through a Millipore-Q ultrapurification system. Elementary analysis was carried out on a Vario EL III elementary analysis instrument. UV-Vis spectra were recorded on an analytik jena Specord 210 spectrophotometer. ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra were recorded on a Varian Mercury 400 spectrometer at 400 and 100 MHz, respectively. Electrospray ionization mass spectra (ESI-MS) were acquired on an Applied Biosystems API 2000 LC/MS/MS system.

The complex Ru₆L was dissolved in CH₃CN at a concentration of 5 μM. The solution was drop cast onto a carbon-coated Cu grid, and the excess solution was absorbed by filter paper to avoid aggregation. The TEM image of the drop cast sample was taken with a JEM100CX electron microscope.
Dynamic laser light scattering equipment was used to determine the average hydrodynamic diameter and the zeta potential of Ru₆L at a concentration of 5 μM in distilled water that had been passed through a Millipore-Q ultra-purification system. Typically, 5 runs were measured for the solution, and the average of all runs is reported.