Efficient base-free hydrodehalogenation of organic halides catalyzed by a well-defined diphosphine-ruthenium(II) complex

Abstract

A base-free, robust catalytic system based on the diphosphine-ruthenium(II) complex cation has been developed for the hydrodehalogenation of a wide range of aryl- and alkyl-chlorides/bromides (27 examples) with molecule hydrogen. Notably, the reaction proceeds at 120 °C with low catalyst loading (0.1 mol%) and exhibits a good tolerance toward functional groups, such as amido, carboxyl, sulfonyl, methoxyl, ester groups. All dehalogenation products are confirmed by GC, GC–MS and NMR spectroscopy. Moreover, a mechanism for the diphosphine-ruthenium(II) complex cation catalyzed dehalogenation process has been proposed. This hydrodehalogenation methodology shows a potential application for the organic transformation and degradation of organic halides.