ANALYSIS OF RUTHENIUM COMPLEXES AS HOMOGENEOUS CATALYSIS FOR DIFFERENT CATALYTIC REACTIONS

Abstract

Ruthenium complexes (1-3) have been synthesized using pincer-type ligands L1 = ((2-phenyl- 2-(pyridin-2-yl)hydrazono)methyl)pyridine, L2 = ((1-phenyl-2-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene) hydrazinyl)pyridine, L3 = 2-((phenyl(2-phenyl-2-(pyridin-2-yl)hydrazono) methyl)pyridine. The molecular structures of all the complexes 1, 2 and 3 were determined by using single crystal X-ray crystallography. These complexes showed excellent catalytic activities towards transfer hydrogenation as well as alcohol oxidation. We also proposed a probable mechanistic pathway for the transfer hydrogenation and oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols. During the catalytic cycle of transfer hydrogenation we also isolated Ru-H intermediate as an active species. Theoretical calculations have been performed to understand the electronic properties of all the complexes using B3LYP/LANL2DZ basis sets