Ruthenium diynyl

This mode of addition of the amine is unusual when compared with the reactions of the corresponding mono-ynyl complexes, which give products derived exclusively from addition to Cp, and ruthenium diynyl complexes, which undergo 1,4-addition. These reactions, which demonstrate C-C, C-N, and C-P bond formation involving the C4 moiety, proceed with total atom conservation. 

The synthesis introduced by Bruce et al. starts from butadiynyl lithium [14]. The addition of HBF4 to solutions of buta-l,3-diynyl ruthenium complex 3 was proposed to afford the butatrienylidene cation 4 by protonation of the terminal carbon atom of the butadiynyl ligand. Complex 4 could neither be isolated nor spectroscopically detected. It readily decomposed by reaction with even traces of water in the air by nucleophilic attack of H2O on the cationic center (Scheme 3.2). 

The formation of other mono- [27-29] or even bis[alkoxy(alkenyl)allenylidene[ ruthenium complexes [28, 30] from the corresponding ruthenium chlorides and 5,5 -diphenyl-penta-1,3 -diynyl alcohol or trimethylsilyl ether in the presence of methanol (Scheme 3.13) and of the allenylidene complex 18 in the absence of methanol (Scheme 3.13) [30, 31] was also suggested to proceed via pentatetraenylidene intermediates. Neither one of these pentatetraenylidene complexes could be isolated or spectroscopically detected although their formation as an intermediate was very likely. 

So far the discussion has concentrated on the reactions of symmetric 1,3-diynes with trinuclear ruthenium and osmium clusters. Related reactions occur with asymmetric diynes. For example, the reaction of [Ru3(CO)8(/tt-dppm)2] with HC CC CSiMes in thf gives [Ru3(/t-H)(CO)s(/r-dppm)2(/t3-7 --L-C2C GSiMe3)] 263 via the oxidative addition of the terminal C CH component of the diynyl ligand across one of the dppm-bridged Ru-Ru bonds. 

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