A mechanistic study of the photocleavage of the methylthioethanol ligand (Hmte) in the series of ruthenium complexes [Ru(tpy)(N-N)(Hmte)](2+) (tpy = 2,2':6',2"-terpyridine, N-N = bpy (2,2'-bipyridine), biq (2,2'-biquinoline), dcbpy (6,6'-dichloro-2,2'-bipyridine), dmbpy (6,6'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine)) was performed using density functional theory. These studies reveal the decisive role of two quasi-degenerate triplet metal-centered states, denoted (MChexa)-M-3 and (MCpenta)-M-3, on the lowest triplet potential energy surface. It also shows how the population of the specific pentacoordinate (MCpenta)-M-3 state, characterized by a geometry more accessible for the attack of a solvent molecule, is a key step for the efficiency of the photosubstitution reaction. The difference in the photosubstitution quantum yields experimentally observed for this series of complexes (from phi = 0.022 for N-N = bpy up to phi = 0.30 for N-N = dmbpy) is rationalized by the existence of this (MCpenta)-M-3 photoreactive state and by the different topologies of the triplet excited-state potential energy surfaces, rather than by the sole steric properties of these polypyridinyl ligands.