Carbene complex formation versus cyclometallation from a phosphoryl-tethered methanide ruthenium complex

Tuning Ruthenium Carbene Complexes for Selective P−H Activation through Metal‐Ligand Cooperation

“…An oxidative addition of the C−H bond to the ruthenium centre as observed for other orthometallation reactions also does not take place. [ 16 , 27 ] Instead, the proton directly inserts into the Ru−P bond to give Int4 with an η 2 ‐coordinated P−H bond. From here, the formed secondary phosphine changes its coordination mode to the typical Lewis base coordination which results in product 3 ’.…”