Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation with a Methandiide-Based Carbene Complex: An Experimental and Computational Study.

The transfer hydrogenation (TH) reaction of ketones with catalytic systems based on a methandiide-derived ruthenium carbene complex was investigated and optimised. The complex itself makes use of the noninnocent behaviour of the carbene ligand (M=CR2 →MH-C(H)R2 ), but showed only moderate activity, thus requiring long reaction times to achieve sufficient conversion. DFT studies on the reaction mechanism revealed high reaction barriers for both the dehydrogenation of iPrOH and the hydrogen transfer. A considerable improvement of the catalytic activity could be achieved by employing triphenylphosphine as additive. Mechanistic studies on the role of PPh3 in the catalytic cycle revealed the formation of a cyclometalated complex upon phosphine coordination. This ruthenacycle was revealed to be the active species under the reaction conditions. The use of the isolated complex resulted in high catalytic activities in the TH of aromatic as well as aliphatic ketones. The complex was also found to be active under base-free conditions, suggesting that the cyclometalation is crucial for the enhanced activity.