Synthesis gas, a gaseous mixture of CO and H2 produced from burning carbonaceous materials, is continuously being produced as a byproduct of the coal and gas industry. Attention is needed on developing methods for using these byproducts to generate chemicals that are synthetically useful.  In this project, a homogeneous bimetallic complex is designed to facilitate syngas conversion.  To accommodate two metal centers, both soft and hard metal binding pockets are generated using a phosphine-imido ligand which also creates a heterogeneous-like surface for chemistry to occur intramolecularly between the two metals.  In this study, a new single-armed phosphine-imidazole ligand C17H17N2P has been prepared.  This phosphine ligand reacts with the ruthenium tetramer, [Cp*RuCl]4, through direct metallation to form a new ruthenium dimer complex, C54H32N4P2Ru2Cl2, which undergoes tautomerization to form a new ruthenium carbene complex, C21H38N2PRuCl. Further studies will focus on isolating, characterizing, and exploring the catalytic activity of the ruthenium dimer, the ruthenium carbene complex, and bimetallic complexes. Also, the results of this research will be applied to the exploration of phosphine-linked bisimidazolate ligands for related chemistry.  This research is lead by Dr. Brandi M. Cossairt, Sarah E. Flowers and conducted in the Cossairt lab at the University of Washington, Seattle. This study is supported by the University of Washington, The Center of Enabling New Technologies through Catalysis (CENTC), and the National Science Foundation.

Exploring reactivity of phosphine imidazole ligands with ruthenium: Access to monometallic and bimetallic complexes

247th National Meeting (2014)

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