A perylene unit was modified with two terpyridine moieties. Each terpyridine chelating moiety was subsequently complexed with ruthenium(III) trichloride to yield a dinuclear bis(monoterpyridine-ruthenium(III) chloride)perylene derivative. Alternatively, it is possible to obtain the corresponding perylene derivative bearing two bis-terpyridine-ruthenium(II) complexes via conversion of the of the terpyridine-substituted perylene with [Ru(tpy)Cl3]. The compounds were characterized in detail by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, NMR, UV-vis as well as fluorescence spectroscopy