3896 Organometallics 2010, 29, 3896–3900
DOI: 10.1021/om1005808
Synthesis of Ruthenium Boryl Analogues of the Shvo
Metal-Ligand Bifunctional Catalyst
Liza Koren-Selfridge,† Ian P. Query,† Joel A. Hanson,† Nicholas A. Isley,† Ilia A. Guzei,‡
and Timothy B. Clark*,†
†Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington 98225-9150, and
‡Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Received June 12, 2010
Metal boryl complexes have received significant attention in the literature in recent years due to their
role as key intermediates in a number of metal-catalyzed borylation reactions. The ligand scaffold is
known to have a significant impact on the observed reactivity of these metal boryl complexes. A syn-
thetic strategy to access ruthenium boryl analogues of the Shvo metal-ligand catalysts is described.
Heating a precursor to Shvo’s catalyst (1) with bis(catecholato)diboron at 50 °C provided ruthenium
boryl complex 3, [2,5-Ph2-3,4-Tol2(η5-C4COBcat)Ru(CO)2Bcat] (Bcat = catecholatoboryl). Addi-
tion of bis(catecholato)diboron to complex 1 in the presence of a phenol results in ruthenium boryl
complex 5, [2,5-Ph2-3,4-Tol2(η5-C4COH)Ru(CO)2Bcat], at 22 °C in 30% isolated yield. A single-
crystal X-ray analysis of complex 5 confirmed the assigned structure. An improved synthesis of ruthe-
nium boryl complex 5 was developed by the in situ formation of complex 3, [2,5-Ph2-3,4-Tol2-
(η5-C4COBcat)Ru(CO)2Bcat], followed by addition of the phenol, resulting in a 51% yield.
Introduction
substituents into aryl or alkyl organic substrates.1,10-15 This
process allows for the conversion of inexpensive starting
materials into valuable fine chemicals based on the ability to
convert C-B bonds into C-O, C-N, and C-C bonds.16-21
The continued development of metal boryl complexes with
unique ligand frameworks has the potential to provide un-
explored reactivity. Metal-ligand bifunctional complexes
have led to highly active catalysts in hydrogenation and conju-
gate addition reactions in recent years.22,23 The Shvo and
Noyori catalysts have served as prototypes of these metal-
ligand bifunctional catalysts, which have been shown to have
Metal boryl complexes have received significant attention
over the past two decades due to their known intermediacy in
metal-catalyzed reactions that incorporate boron substitu-
ents into organic substrates.1-9 The design of metal boryl
complexes with unique ligand frameworks has led to com-
plexes with previously unknown reactivity. C-H borylation
reactions, for example, utilize iridium, rhodium, rhenium, and
ruthenium catalysts in the selective incorporation of boron
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: clark@
chem.wwu.edu.
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