Ruthenium (0) complexes with NHC tetrazolylidene ligands: Synthesis, characterization and reactivity

Here we present two new phenyl-tetrazolylidene carbenes as ligands in non-mesoionic (1,4-substitution pattern) and mesoionic (1,3-substitution pattern) tetrazolylidene-cyclopentadienone ruthenium(0) complexes namely 1 and 2 respectively. The complexes have been obtained in good yield and fully characterized; X-ray structure determination confirmed the binding mode of the ligand for 2. Reactivity studies has been performed in order to shed light on the fact that the phenyl substituent position in the heterocyclic ligand can seriously change complexes behavior and stability.