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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

The Synthesis, Characterization and Reactivity of a Series of Ruthenium N-triphosPh Complexes
Published on: April 10, 2015
An efficient N-heterocyclic carbene-ruthenium complex: application towards the synthesis of polyesters and polyamides
Jagadeesh Malineni1, Helmut Keul, Martin Möller
1DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials and Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, ,D-52074, Aachen, Germany.
Abstract:
The ruthenium benzimidazolylidene-based N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complex 4 catalyzes the direct dehydrogenative condensation of primary alcohols into esters and primary alcohols in the presence of amines to the corresponding amides in high yields. This efficient new catalytic system shows a high selectivity towards the conversion of diols to polyesters and of a mixture of diols and diamines to polyamides. The only side product formed in this reaction is molecular hydrogen. Remarkable is the conversion of hydroxytelechelic polytetrahydrofuran (Mn = 1000 g mol(-1))--a polydispers starting material--into a hydrolytically degradable polyether with ester linkages (Mn = 32 600 g mol(-1)) and, in the presence of aliphatic diamines, into a polyether with amide linkages in the back bone (Mn = 16 000 g mol(-1) ).
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