SNS-Ligands for Ru-Catalyzed Homogeneous Hydrogenation and Dehydrogenation Reactions

A detailed study of literature-known and novel S-containing pincer-type ligands for ruthenium-catalyzed homogeneous hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions was carried out. The scope and limitations of these catalysts were carefully investigated, and it was shown that simple bench-stable SNS-Ru complexes can be used to facilitate the hydrogenation of a variety of different substrates at a maximum H-2 pressure of 20 bar under operationally simple, easy to scale up, glovebox-free conditions by using starting materials and reagents that do not require any special purification prior to use. It was also shown that such complexes can be used to catalyze the dehydrogenative coupling of alcohols and amines to get amides as well as for the dehydrogenative dimerization of alcohols to esters.