Ruthenium-Catalyzed Redox-Neutral C–H Bond Functionalization Reaction: an Efficient Route to Substituted Alkenes and Heterocycles

Abstract

The research area in my doctoral study is targeted on the development of new synthetic methods for the synthesis of various substituted alkenes and valuable heterocyclic compounds via a ruthenium-catalyzed chelation assisted redox-neutral C–H bond activation reaction. The transition metal catalyzed chelation assisted C–H bond activation is one of the efficient method to construct various carbon-carbon bonds in a highly efficient manner, by employing this methodology various substituted aromatics and heterocycles were prepared in a highly atom economical and environmentally friendly manner compared to classical cross coupling reactions. Various transition metal complexes such as palladium, rhodium and ruthenium have been widely used as catalysts in this type of reaction. Among them a less expensive ruthenium complexes gained tremendous attention in this type of reaction, due to their remarkable reactivity, compatibility and selectivity. Synthesize of substituted alkenes via ruthenium catalyzed C–H bond activation is excellent method to synthesize various substituted alkene derivatives in a highly regio and stereo selective manner. However Till now, in the ruthenium-catalyzed alkenylation reaction, a stoichiometric amount or a catalytic amount of oxidant or base was used to execute the reaction. We have developed a redox-neutral method to synthesize of tri, di and mono substituted alkenes with high regio selectivity without using any oxidant with cheaper ruthenium catalyst, in addition biologically important heterocycles also prepared by employing the same methodology.