A ruthenium cis-dihydride with 2-phosphinophosphinine ligands catalyses the acceptorless dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol

Elizabeth C Trodden; Matthew P Delve; Christian Luz; Robert J Newland; John M Andresen; Stephen M Mansell

doi:10.1039/d1dt02508b

A ruthenium cis-dihydride with 2-phosphinophosphinine ligands catalyses the acceptorless dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol

Dalton Trans. 2021 Oct 5;50(38):13407-13411. doi: 10.1039/d1dt02508b.

Authors

Elizabeth C Trodden^{1

2}, Matthew P Delve², Christian Luz², Robert J Newland², John M Andresen¹, Stephen M Mansell²

Affiliations

¹ Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS), Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK.
² Institute of Chemical Sciences, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK. j.andresen@hw.ac.uk.

PMID: 34477181
DOI: 10.1039/d1dt02508b

Abstract

The first ruthenium dihydride complex featuring a phosphinine ligand cis-[Ru(H)₂(2-PPh₂-3-Me-6-SiMe₃-PC₅H₂)₂] was synthesised exclusively as the cis-isomer. When formed in situ from the reaction of cis-[Ru(Cl)₂(2-PPh₂-3-Me-6-SiMe₃-PC₅H₂)₂] with two equivalents of Na[BHEt₃], as demonstrated by ³¹P and ¹H NMR spectroscopy, the catalysed acceptorless dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohol was observed leading to benzyl benzoate in up to 70% yield.