Supported and non-supported ruthenium(II)/phosphine/[3-(2-aminoethyl)aminopropyl]trimethoxysilane complexes and their activities in the chemoselective hydrogenation of trans-4-phenyl-3-butene-2-al.

Syntheses of four new ruthenium(II) complexes of the [RuCl(2)(P)(2)(N)(2)] type using 2-(diphenylphosphino)ethyl methyl ether (P-O) as ether-phosphine and triphenylphosphine (PPh(3)) as monodentate phosphine ligands in the presence of [3-(2-aminoethyl)aminopropyl]trimethoxysilane as diamine co-ligand are presented for the first time. The reactions were conducted at room temperature and under an inert atmosphere. Due to the presence of the trimethoxysilane group in the backbone of complexes 1 and 2 they were subjected to an immobilization process using the sol-gel technique in the presence of tetraethoxysilane as cross-linker. The structural behavior of the phosphine ligands in the desired complexes during synthesis were monitored by (31)P{(1)H}-NMR. Desired complexes were deduced from elemental analyses, Infrared, FAB-MS and (1)H-, (13)C- and (31)P-NMR spectroscopy, xerogels X1 and X2 were subjected to solid state, (13)C-, (29)Si- and (31)P-NMR spectroscopy, Infrared and EXAF. These complexes served as hydrogenation catalysts in homogenous and heterogeneous phases, and chemoselective hydrogenation of the carbonyl function group in trans-4-phenyl-3-butene-2-al was successfully carried out under mild basic conditions.