A mild and environmentally friendly
method to synthesize half-sandwich
ruthenium complexes through the Wittig reaction between an aldehyde-tagged
half-sandwich ruthenium complex and phosphorus ylide mechanochemically
is reported herein. The mechanochemical synthesis of valuable half-sandwich
ruthenium complexes resulted in a fast reaction, good yield with simple
workup, and the avoidance of harsh reaction conditions and organic
solvents. The synthesized half-sandwich ruthenium complexes exhibited
high catalytic activity for transfer hydrogenation of ketones using
2-propanol as the hydrogen source and solvent. Density functional
theory was carried out to propose a mechanism for the transfer hydrogenation
process. The modeling suggests the importance of the labile p-cymene ligand in modulating the reactivity of the catalyst.