A ruthenium-based catalyst system for hydrovinylation at room temperature

A catalytic amount of RuHCl(CO)(PCy(3))(2) (1) activated with AgOTF or AgSbF(6) at room temperature was found to be an effective catalyst system for the hydrovinylation of vinylarenes. Vinylarenes with both electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents reacted with ethylene at room temperature to provide the desired 3-arylbutenes in moderate to excellent yield (60-99%) under mild reaction conditions.