Tandem α/β-alkylation and transfer hydrogenation by heterodimetallic ruthenium-iridium complex

Abstract Herein, we present a new and air-stable polypyridyl based heterodimetallic complex [cp*IrIII(µ-L)RuII(p-cym)](PF6)2 (5) exhibiting facile tandem α/β–alkylation/transfer hydrogenation of ketones/alcohol under mild reaction conditions. The heterodimetallic 5 is found to show better reactivity and selectivity as compared to their homodimetallic analogues (3 and 4), monometallic (1 and 2) and dimeric precursors [cp*IrCl(µ-Cl)]2 and [(p-cym)RuCl(µ-Cl)]2. In addition, the present catalytic system 5 demonstrates a good flexibility and selective formation of α-alkylated ketones (C) or β-alkylated alcohol (D) by simple variation of reagents and reaction condition which may be envisioned to play a pivotal role in organic and organometallic chemistry as it lead to the development of pharmaceutically relevant intermediates for the synthesis of different types of heterocycles.