Nitrile ligands coordinated to ruthenium are subject to nucleophilic addition reactions. One such addition reaction is nitrile oxidation, which occurs when an oxygen atom is transferred to the unsaturated carbon of the nitrile ligand and potentially forms a metal-imido complex. In order to study the steric and electronic properties of the nitrile ligand on nitrile oxidation, a family of polypyridyl-ruthenium(II) complexes with substituted benzonitrile ligands was synthesized. The complexes were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and by elemental analysis. The complexes were then reacted with oxygen atom transfer reagents in an attempt to complete the nitrile oxidation reaction. The kinetics of the reactions were explored to shed insights on the mechanism of nitrile oxidation, and elucidation of the product identities was attempted by independent syntheses.

Synthesis of substituted benzonitrile compounds of ruthenium and reactions with oxygen atom transfer reagents

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