Hydrogenation and Transfer Hydrogenation Promoted by Tethered Ru-S Complexes: From Cooperative Dihydrogen Activation to Hydride Abstraction/Proton Release from Dihydrogen Surrogates

Hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of imines with cyclohexa-1,4-dienes, as well as with a representative Hantzsch ester dihydrogen surrogate, are reported. Both processes are catalyzed by tethered Ru-S complexes but differ in the activation mode of the dihydrogen source: cooperative activation of the H-H bond at the Ru-S bond leads to the corresponding Ru-H complex and protonation of the sulfur atom, whereas the same cationic Ru-S catalyst abstracts a hydride from a donor-substituted cyclohexa-1,4-diene to form the neutral Ru-H complex and a low-energy Wheland intermediate. A sequence of proton and hydride transfers on the imine substrate then yields an amine. The reaction pathways are analyzed computationally, and the established mechanistic pictures are in agreement with the experimental observations.