Ruthenium complexes reactivity

High-valent ruthenium oxides (e. g., Ru04) are powerful oxidants and react readily with olefins, mostly resulting in cleavage of the double bond [132]. If reactions are performed with very short reaction times (0.5 min.) at 0 °C it is possible to control the reactivity better and thereby to obtain ds-diols. On the other hand, the use of less reactive, low-valent ruthenium complexes in combination with various terminal oxidants for the preparation of epoxides from simple olefins has been described [133]. In the more successful earlier cases, ruthenium porphyrins were used as catalysts, especially in combination with N-oxides as terminal oxidants [134, 135, 136]. Two examples are shown in Scheme 6.20, terminal olefins being oxidized in the presence of catalytic amounts of Ru-porphyrins 25 and 26 with the sterically hindered 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide (2,6-DCPNO) as oxidant. The use... 

The reaction of the coordinatively unsaturated ruthenium amidinates with [Cp RuCl]4 tetramer or [CpRufMeCNlsJPFg provides access to novel amidinate-bridged dinuclear ruthenium complexes (Scheme 146), which in turn can be transformed into cationic complexes or hydride derivatives. In these complexes, a bridging amidinate ligand perpendicular to the metal-metal axis effectively stabilizes the highly reactive cationic diruthenium species. 

In 2009, Buchmeiser and co-workers reported the synthesis of a novel ruthenium complex 54 based on a seven-membered NHC ligand [68] (Fig. 3.22). To examine the catalytic activity of complex 54 in the RCM reaction, the authors subjected the complex to a series of typical RCM reactions by using substrates 1, 3, and 5. Pre-catalyst 54 showed only moderate reactivity with 1 and 3 and no reaction occurred with 5. 

Other transition-metals have also been used. For example, Trost183 reported that heating a 1 1 mixture of 1-octene and 1-octyne in DMF-water (3 1) at 100°C with a ruthenium complex for 2 h generated a 1 1 mixture of two products corresponding to the addition of the alkene to the acetylene (Eq. 3.47). The presence of a normally reactive enolate does not interfere with the reaction. 

Scheme 6/3.31. Cyclization/reconstitutive addition process involving allenylidene ruthenium complexes as reactive intermediates.

Carbyne complex chemistry of osmium and ruthenium is discussed in this section. These studies demonstrate clearly the parallels that exist between the metal-carbon bonds in carbene and carbyne complexes and again emphasize the importance of metal basicity in determining complex reactivity. 

An interesting finding was made by changing of the connectivity (1,1 instead of 1,2) of the central olefin moiety of the substrate, that is, the usual diene product 324 from the skeletal rearrangement was observed in this case (Scheme 83). The fact that by using rhodium instead of platinum or ruthenium, the reactivity pattern is totally different also suggests all the subtlety and complexity of the mechanism of these transformations.302... 

Addition of disulfides to carbon-carbon double bonds is catalyzed by ruthenium complexes (Equation (71)).204 Even relatively less reactive dialkyl disulfides add to norbornene with high stereoselectivity in the presence of a catalytic amount of Cp RuCl(cod). Diphenyl disulfide adds to ethylene and terminal alkenes under identical conditions (Equation (72)). 

The greater reactivity of terminal olefins compared to their more hindered di-and tri-substituted counterparts became evident in the model studies (Sect. 2.2.1) and in the total synthesis of epothilones A, B and E (Sects. 2.2.2-2.2.4). Suitably positioned disubstituted olefins can, however, participate in RCM reactions employing the molybdenum initiator 1 [19], and this is demonstrated in the total synthesis of epothilone B (5) (Sect. 2.2.3). As expected this transformation proved impossible using the ruthenium complex 3. 

Although the molybdenum and ruthenium complexes 1-3 have gained widespread popularity as initiators of RCM, the cydopentadienyl titanium derivative 93 (Tebbe reagent) [28,29] can also be used to promote olefin metathesis processes (Scheme 13) [28]. In a stoichiometric sense, 93 can be also used to promote the conversion of carbonyls into olefins [28b, 29]. Both transformations are thought to proceed via the reactive titanocene methylidene 94, which is released from the Tebbe reagent 93 on treatment with base. Subsequent reaction of 94 with olefins produces metallacyclobutanes 95 and 97. Isolation of these adducts, and extensive kinetic and labeling studies, have aided in the eluddation of the mechanism of metathesis processes [28]. 

For the synthesis of carbohydrate-substituted block copolymers, it might be expected that the addition of acid to the polymerization reactions would result in a rate increase. Indeed, the ROMP of saccharide-modified monomers, when conducted in the presence of para-toluene sulfonic acid under emulsion conditions, successfully yielded block copolymers [52]. A key to the success of these reactions was the isolation of the initiated species, which resulted in its separation from the dissociated phosphine. The initiated ruthenium complex was isolated by starting the polymerization in acidic organic solution, from which the reactive species precipitated. The solvent was removed, and the reactive species was washed with additional degassed solvent. The polymerization was completed under emulsion conditions (in water and DTAB), and additional blocks were generated by the sequential addition of the different monomers. This method of polymerization was successful for both the mannose/galactose polymer and for the mannose polymer with the intervening diol sequence (Fig. 16A,B). 

The fact that metal hydrides can be acidic may seem paradoxical in view of the nomenclature that insists that all complexes with a M-H bond be referred to as hydrides regardless of whether their reactivity is hydridic or not. Not only can some metal hydrides donate a proton, but some can be remarkably acidic. Some cationic dihydrogen complexes are sufficiently acidic to protonate Et20 [8], and some dicationic ruthenium complexes have an acidity comparable to or exceeding that of HOTf [9],... 

The concerted delivery of protons from OH and hydride from RuH found in these Shvo systems is related to the proposed mechanism of hydrogenation of ketones (Scheme 7.15) by a series of ruthenium systems that operate by metal-ligand bifunctional catalysis [86]. A series of Ru complexes reported by Noyori, Ohkuma and coworkers exhibit extraordinary reactivity in the enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones. These systems are described in detail in Chapters 20 and 31, and mechanistic issues of these hydrogenations by ruthenium complexes have been reviewed [87]. 

Reactive Intermediates in Ruthenium-Complex-Catalyzed Hydrogenations... 

Oxidation states of ruthenium ranging from +VIII to -II render ruthenium complexes a unique scaffold for both oxidations and reductions. We review here some of our results in both areas employing an enzyme-like design, i.e., suitable ruthenium complexes are covalently attached to P-cyclodextrins (P-CDs) which combines the site of reactivity with a binding pocket for lipophilic substrates. 

Reactivity studies revealed that the ruthenium complexes of monotosylated 1,2-diamines linked to P-CD such as 80 react about three times faster than their amino alcohol counterparts. Several... 

Compounds 81 and 83-86 were linked to P-CD, the ruthenium p-complexes prepared in situ and reductions carried out with the standard substrate 63 (Fig. 26). Comparing the results of ruthenium complexes with ligands 87-91 reveals that any substituent adjacent to the tosyl group leads to modest to good ee values but reduces the reactivity of the catalyst considerably, see 87-89 (Fig. 26), improvement of the 5delds between 33% and 53% was only achieved at elevated temperatures (50°C). In contrast, ruthenium complexes with ligands... 

After extensive screening of various aldehydes to optimize the reaction conditions, it was found that aromatic aldehydes were able to serve as a carbon monoxide source, in which the electronic nature of the aldehydes is responsible for their ability to transfer CO efficiently [24]. Consequently, aldehydes bearing electron-withdrawing substituents are more effective than those bearing electron-donating substituents, with pentafluoro-benzaldehyde providing optimal reactivity. Interestingly, for all substrates tested the reaction is void of any complications from hydroacylation of either the alkene or alkyne of the enyne. Iridium and ruthenium complexes, which are known to decarboxylate aldehydes and catalyze the PK reaction, demonstrated inferior efficiency as compared to... 

The reactivity of neutral square-planar d butatrienylidene complex 11 (Scheme 3.8) strongly deviates from that of cationic d ruthenium complexes. The deviation is readily understood when considering the orbital contributions of the metal and the carbon atoms of the chain to the LUMO. In d and d complexes the LUMO is predominantly localized at the metal, at Cl and C3. However, the relative contribution of the metal in d and d complexes is significantly different. In d complexes the metal contributes considerably less than Cl and C3, in d complexes its contribution is approximately equal to that of Cl and C3. 

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