Characterisation and properties of the dinuclear ruthenium molecular hydrogen complex [(η2-H2)(dppb)Ru(µ-Cl)3RuCl(dppb)]; dppb = Ph2P(CH2)4PPh2

Abstract

Dihydrogen and reversibly to the dimeric Ru^II complex [{RuCl(dppb)(µ-Cl)}₂](1), where dppb = 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane, to give the remarkably simple molecular hydrogen title complex (2) which is an effective catalyst for hydrogenations utilising H₂ and for transfer hydrogenation from propan-2-ol; the η²-H₂ ligand (with an H–H distance of 0.086 Å as estimated by ¹H NMR T₁ data) is replaceable by other ligands including N₂.