Novel <i>N</i>‐Alkylbenzimidazole‐Ruthenium (II) complexes: Synthesis and catalytic activity of N‐alkylating reaction under solvent‐free medium

Abstract

In this article, direct N ‐alkylation reactions of amines with alcohols derivatives have been investigated. For this purpose, a new series ruthenium (II) complexes bearing N‐coordinated benzimidazole complexes with have been synthesized and fully characterized by elemental analysis, FT‐IR, 1 H NMR and, 13 C NMR spectroscopies. Additionally, the structures of the complexes 2b and 2c have been confirmed by X‐ray crystallography. Although the N‐alkylating reaction is usually performed in toluene, the catalytic study of complexes 2a‐d has carried out no additional solvent and alcohol acted both as solvent and reactant of alkylating by using a little excess of alcohols. Surprisingly, conversion and selectivity of amine product for alkylation reaction have been seen high in medium solvent‐free relative to in toluene.