Homobimetallic hydride and dihydrogen complexes of ruthenium bearing N-heterocyclic carbene ligands

A series of new homobimetallic hydride complexes of ruthenium bearing N-heterocyclic carbene ligand of the type [{RuHCl(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-bpy)] (IMes = 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene) (4,4’-bpy = 4,4’-bipyridine) (2), [{RuHCl(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-dpyen)] (4,4’-dpyen = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene) (4), and [{RuHCl(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-dpyan)] (4,4’-dpyan = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane) (5) has been synthesized and characterized starting from [RuHCl(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)] (1). The pyridyl-based ligands, (4,4’-bpy), (4,4’-dpyen), and (4,4’-dpyan) in these complexes act as the bridging ligands between the two ruthenium fragments. The bridging ligand in these bimetallic complexes is very labile. Reaction of these complexes with PMe3 led to extensive substitution of not only the bridging ligand but also the PPh3 ligands. Reaction of complexes 2, 4, and 5 with HOTf at low temperatures result in the formation of the corresponding dihydrogen complexes, [{RuCl(η2-H2)(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-bpy)][OTf]2 (9), [{RuCl(η2-H2)(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-dpyen)][OTf]2 (10), and [{RuCl(η2-H2)(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-dpyan)][OTf]2 (11), respectively. These are the first examples of homobimetallic ruthenium dihydrogen complexes bearing NHC ligands. The intact nature of the H–H bond in these derivatives was established by variable temperature 1H (400 MHz) spin-lattice relaxation time (T1, ms) measurements and from the H, D coupling constants of the corresponding HD isotopomers. The H–H distances (dHH) in these complexes fall in the range 0.95–0.98 Å. Hydrogen evolution takes place upon warming the dihydrogen complexes generated at low temperatures, indicating the labile nature of the H2 ligand in these complexes. The X-ray crystal structure of [{RuHCl(IMes)(PPh3)(CO)}2(4,4’-bpy)] complex (2) has been determined.