Polymeric hybrid films, for their application in organic electronics, were produced from new ruthenium indanones in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by the drop-casting procedure. Initially, the synthesis and structural characterization of the ruthenium complexes were performed, and subsequently, their properties as a potential semiconductor material were explored. Hence hybrid films in ruthenium complexes were deposited using PMMA as a polymeric matrix. The hybrid films were characterized by infrared spectrophotometry and atomic force microscopy. The obtained results confirmed that the presence of the ruthenium complexes enhanced the mechanical properties in addition to increasing the transmittance, favoring the determination of their optical parameters. Both hybrid films exhibited a maximum stress around 10.5 MPa and a Knoop hardness between 2.1 and 18.4. Regarding the optical parameters, the maximum transparency was obtained at wavelengths greater than 590 nm, the optical band gap was in the range of 1.73–2.24 eV, while the Tauc band gap was in the range of 1.68–2.17 eV, and the Urbach energy was between 0.29 and 0.50 eV. Consequently, the above comments are indicative of an adequate semiconductor behavior; hence, the target polymeric hybrid films must be welcomed as convenient candidates as active layers or transparent electrodes in organic electronics.

β-Nitrostyrenes are archetypal Michael acceptors due to the strong electron-withdrawing nature of the nitro group. However, we found that β-nitrostyrenes substituted with electron-withdrawing groups react with silyl ketene acetals, activated by stoichiometric Lewis bases (K₂CO₃ or TBAF), to produce a mixture of Michael addition (M) and anti-Michael addition (AM) products. The yield strongly depends on the position and nature of the electron-withdrawing group within the phenyl ring (e.g., p-nitro: 8% AM 2% M; o-nitro 70% AM, 26% M). The formation of the unexpected AM product cannot be explained by a higher electrophilicity of the α-carbon compared to the β-carbon (Parr's indexes). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the formation of the AM product is not influenced by external factors such as light, metal impurities, or the nature of the Lewis base. Instead, it appears from the intrinsic reactivity of the reacting partners. Based on theoretical and experimental evidence, we propose that the AM product is formed via a vinylic S_RN1 mechanism rather than an ionic pathway. In this mechanism, the anionic enolate reduces the nitrostyrene through a single-electron transfer process initiating a radical mechanism that ultimately leads to the formation of the AM product.