Catalysis activity and chemoselectivity control with the ligand in Ru-H pincer complexes.

(PhPNP)Ru(H)(Cl)(CO) serves as a precatalyst to a variety of important catalytic transformations but most improvements have been restricted to the replacement of the CO ligand to the hydride or changing the Ph groups of the pincer for other aryl or alkyl groups. The ligand to the hydride is often another hydride and studies that utilize other ligands in catalysis are limited. In this work, we synthesized a series of [(PhPNP)Ru(H)(CO)(L)][BPh] complexes bearing isonitrile, PMe, or a N-heterocyclic ligand to the Ru-H.