Mononuclear Ruthenium and Osmium Complexes with a Bicyclic Guanidinate Ligand: Synthesis and Catalytic Behavior in Olefin Isomerization Processes

Abstract

The preparation of the first mononuclear RuII, RuIV, and OsII complexes containing the anion of the bicyclic guanidine 1,3,4,6,7,8‐hexahydro‐2H‐pyrimido[1,2‐a]pyrimidine (Hhpp) as a chelating ligand, namely [RuX{κ2‐(N,N′)‐hpp}(η6‐arene)] [arene = p‐cymene, X = Cl (2a), Br (2b), I (2c); arene = C6Me6, X = Cl (7)], [RuCl{κ2‐(N,N′)‐hpp}(η3:η3‐C10H16)] (9; C10H16 = 2,7‐dimethylocta‐2,6‐diene‐1,8‐diyl), and [OsCl{κ2‐(N,N′)‐hpp}(η6‐p‐cymene)] (11), is described. Compounds 2a–c, 7, 9, and 11 have been fully characterized by elemental analysis, HRMS, IR and NMR spectroscopy. In addition, the structure of 2a has been unequivocally confirmed by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction methods. The catalytic behavior of these metal guanidinate complexes in the base‐free redox isomerization of allylic alcohols is explored, with the ruthenium(IV) derivative 9 showing the best performance (TOF up to 5940 h–1). All of the synthesized complexes have also proven to be active in the isomerization of the allylbenzene estragole into the industrially relevant 1‐propenylbenzene anethole, with a trans selectivity of up to 95 %.