Transfer hydrogenation of ketones in the presence of half sandwich ruthenium (II) complexes bearing imidazoline and benzimidazole ligand

Abstract

This article explores the possibility of using imidazoline and benzimidazole derivatives as interesting ligands due to the fact that they are structurally simple, readily available, inexpensive, and they allow easy introduction of various substituents into their structure. Therefore, N-substituted imidazoline and benzimidazole ligands and their new ruthenium complexes [RuCl2(eta(6)-p-cymene)(L)] (L = N-substituted imidazoline/benzimidazole) were synthesized and characterized. The catalytic performances of new complexes are investigated for the transfer hydrogenation of ketones. Furthermore, corresponding secondary alcohols were also obtained in good yields.