Steven P. Cummings

Diruthenium–Polyyn-diyl–Diruthenium Wires: Electronic Coupling in the Long Distance Regime

Reported herein is a series of Ru2(Xap)4 capped polyyn-diyl compounds, where Xap is either 2-anilinopyridinate (ap) or its aniline substituted derivatives. Symmetric [Ru2(Xap)4](μ-C4k)[Ru2(Xap)4] (compounds 4ka (X = 3-isobutoxy) and 4kc (X = 3,5-dimethoxy) with k = 2, 3, 4, and 5) was obtained from the Glaser coupling reaction of Ru2(Xap)4(C2kH). Unsymmetric [Ru2(Xap)4](μ-C(4k+2))[Ru2(ap)4] (compounds 4k+2b with k = 2, 3, and 4) were prepared from the Glaser coupling reaction between Ru2(Xap)4(C(2k+2)H) and Ru2(ap)4(C2kH). X-ray diffraction study of compound 12c revealed both the sigmoidal topology of the polyyn-diyl bridge and the fine structural detail about the Ru2 cores. Cyclic and differential pulse voltammetric (CV and DPV) measurements and spectroelectrochemical studies revealed that (i) the reduced monoanions [Ru2-C2m-Ru2](-1) (m = 4-8) belong to the Robin-Day class II mixed valent ions and (ii) the electronic coupling between Ru2 termini depends on the length of the polyyn-diyl bridge with an attenuation constant (γ) between 0.12 and 0.15 Å(-1). In addition, spin-unrestricted DFT calculations provide insight about the nature of orbitals that mediate the long distance electronic coupling.

Tetrahydroxydiboron-Mediated Palladium-Catalyzed Transfer Hydrogenation and Deuteriation of Alkenes and Alkynes Using Water as the Stoichiometric H or D Atom Donor

There are few examples of catalytic transfer hydrogenations of simple alkenes and alkynes that use water as a stoichiometric H or D atom donor. We have found that diboron reagents efficiently mediate the transfer of H or D atoms from water directly onto unsaturated C-C bonds using a palladium catalyst. This reaction is conducted on a broad variety of alkenes and alkynes at ambient temperature, and boric acid is the sole byproduct. Mechanistic experiments suggest that this reaction is made possible by a hydrogen atom transfer from water that generates a Pd-hydride intermediate. Importantly, complete deuterium incorporation from stoichiometric D2O has also been achieved.