Trinuclear and Tetranuclear Ruthenium Carbonyl Clusters Derived from Indenylphosphines: Cleavage of C−H and C−P Bonds

Transition metal complexes with functionalized indenyl phosphine ligands: structures and catalytic properties

Transition-metal indenyl complexes usually exhibit different reactivities compared with their cyclopentadienyl analogues. Up to now, at least 10 metal-indenyl bonding modes have been reported. Because of the "indenyl effect", transition-metal indenyl complexes usually show enhanced reactivity in substitution and related reactions. This review provides an overview on the use and impact of indenyl phosphines in organometallic chemistry and transition-metal-catalysed reactions in the recent two decades. Some cationic and zwitterionic metal complexes supported by P,N-substituted indene or indenide ligands are described. They have been reported to induce the cleavage of E-H (E = H, Si and B) bonds and can be used as catalysts for addition of E-H bonds to unsaturated substrates. 2-Aryl indenyl phosphine ligands L3-L11 have been proven to be a class of versatile ligands for palladium-catalysed C-C and C-N cross-coupling reactions. Moreover, optically active tethered indenyl phosphine ligands can have better stereoselective control over the chirality arising at the metal center in the oxidative addition of their rhodium complexes with alkyl halides.

Unexpected bond activations promoted by palladium nanoparticles

Thioether-phosphines, 1 and 2, were applied for the stabilisation of palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) synthesised by a bottom-up methodology, using [Pd2(dba)3] as an organometallic precursor. For the phenyl containing ligand 1, small (d(mean) = 1.6 nm), well-defined and dispersed nanoparticles were obtained; however, ligand 2 involving a long alkyl chain led to agglomerates. NMR and GC-MS analyses throughout the synthesis of the nanomaterials revealed partial cleavage of ligands by C-S and C-P bond activations, and XPS spectra of the isolated nanoparticles indicated the presence of both thioether-phosphines and their fragments on the metallic surface. Reactivity studies of molecular palladium systems as well as on extended palladium surfaces pointed out that cluster entities are responsible for C-heteroatom activations, triggering structure modifications of stabilisers during the synthesis of PdNPs.

Phenyl substituted indenylphosphine ruthenium complexes as catalysts for dehydrogenation of alcohols

Thermal treatment of (1H-inden-3-yl)dicyclohexylphosphinium tetrafluoroborate (1) and (3-mesityl-1H-inden-3-yl)dicyclohexylphosphinium tetrafluoroborate (3) with tBuONa followed by [(η(6)-cymene)RuCl(2))](2) in methanol gave the adduct {(η(6)-cymene)RuCl(2)[(1H-inden-3-yl)PCy(2)]} (6) and {(η(6)-cymene)RuCl(2)[(3-mesityl-1H-inden-3-yl)PCy(2)]} (7), respectively. Thermal treatment of (2-phenyl-1H-inden-3-yl)dicyclohexylphosphinium tetrafluoroborate (4) with tBuONa followed by [(η(6)-cymene)RuCl(2))](2) or RuCl(3)·3H(2)O in methanol gave {Ru[κ(P):(η(6)-2-phenyl-1H-inden-3-yl)PCy(2)]Cl(2)} (8). Whereas (2-mesityl-1H-inden-3-yl)dicyclohexylphosphine (5) reacted with [(η(6)-cymene)RuCl(2))](2) (in toluene) or RuCl(3)·3H(2)O (in ethanol) to afford {Ru[κ(P):(η(6)-2-mesityl-1H-inden-3-yl)PCy(2)]Cl(2)} (9). The molecular structures of complexes 6, 8 and 9 have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, complexes 8 and 9 have been found to catalyze the acceptorless dehydrogenation of alcohols in toluene. 9 displayed high activity and different substrates, including cyclic and linear alcohols, were efficiently oxidized to ketones by using 2.0 mol% of catalyst.