Bis(phenoxy-imine) ruthenium(II) carbonyl complexes: syntheses, structures and their catalytic activities for conversion of aldehydes to nitriles

Abstract

Three new ruthenium(II) carbonyl complexes that bear phenoxy-imine chelate ligands, [RN = CH(C₆H₄O)]₂Ru(CO)₂ (1: R = 2,6-Me₂C₆H₃; 2: R = 4-OMeC₆H₄; 3: R = 4-ClC₆H₄) have been synthesized. These mononuclear ruthenium(II) complexes were fully characterized by elemental analysis, FT‒IR, and ¹H and ¹³C NMR. Furthermore, the molecular structures of 1-3 were determined by X-ray crystal diffraction analysis. In the presence of NaHCO₃ as the base, the Ru carbonyl complexes showed moderate to good catalytic activities for the conversion of aldehydes to nitriles via the dehydration of aldoximes.

Keywords:

• Phenoxy-imine ligands
• ruthenium carbonyl complexes
• nitriles
• dehydration
• catalytic conversion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Hebei Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. B2017205006 and B2019205087) and the Education Department Foundation of Hebei Province (nos. ZD2018005 and QN2019036).