Cyclopentadienyl RuII Complexes as Highly Efficient Catalysts for the N-Methylation of Alkylamines by Methanol

✍ Scribed by Alessandro Del Zotto; Walter Baratta; Mauro Sandri; Giancarlo Verardo; Pierluigi Rigo

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 162 KB
• Volume: 2004
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1434-1948
• DOI: 10.1002/ejic.200300518

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The ruthenium(II) half‐sandwich complex [RuCl(η^5^‐C~5~H~5~)(PPh~3~)~2~] (1) catalyses the reaction between methanol and alkylamines RNH~2~ or R^1^R^2^NH to afford RN(CH~3~)~2~ and R^1^R^2^NCH~3~ products, respectively. The reaction is quantitative and generally fast, at the methanol reflux temperature, for a wide spectrum of substrates. Starting from primary amines, the stepwise formation of RN=CH~2~, RNHCH~3~, and RN(CH~3~)~2~ has been observed. Both PPh~3~ and Cl^−^ dissociation from 1 are key‐steps in forming the effective catalytic species. The catalytic activity of several half‐sandwich neutral or cationic complexes (2−15) related to 1 is also discussed. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)