Synthesis and catalytic activities of bimetallic Ru (II) arene complexes bearing bis-benzimidazoles

Abstract

In this study, bis-benzimidazole ligands (1a-d) were synthesized using linker groups and they wereevaluated as catalyst generated in situ from [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2 for transfer hydrogenation (TH) ofacetophenone. The bimetallic Ru (II) arene complex (2b) synthesized from ligand 1b which showed thebest activity among the ligands in the catalytic TH reaction. The obtained ligands and 2b complex werecharacterized by 1H- and 13C-NMR, elemental analysis and IR spectroscopy. The catalytic activities ofcomplexes having different chain lengths and Y (CH3 or H) groups were compared. The highestconversion (99%) was obtained with 2b.