Novel Ruthenium-Mediated Conversion of Aldimines and Aminals to Aminocarbene Complexes

The reaction of [RuCp(L)(CH 3 CN) 2 ]PF 6 (L = CH 3 CN, PMe 3 ) with ( E )- N -(phenylmethylene)-2-pyridinamine (py-N CHPh) affords the cyclic aminocarbene complexes [RuCp(L)( CPhNH-py)]PF 6, whereas with L = PPh 3, CO the reaction stops already at the stage of the imine complex [RuCp(L)(κ 2 N, N -py-N CHPh)]PF 6 . This reaction arguably does not proceed via a direct 1,2-hydrogen shift but seems to involve hydrido iminoacyl intermediates as a result of C−H bond activation and deprotonation steps.