Imido transfer from bis(imido)ruthenium(VI) porphyrins to hydrocarbons: Effect of imido substituents, C-H bond dissociation energies, and Ru VI/V reduction potentials

[RuVI(TMP)(NSO2R)2] (SO2R = Ms, Ts, Bs, Cs, Ns; R = p-C6H4OMe, p-C6H 4Me, C6H5, p-C6H4-Cl, p-C6H4NO2, respectively) and [Ru VI(Por)(NTs)2] (Por = 2,6-Cl2TPP, F 20-TPP) were prepared by the reactions of [RuII(Por)(CO)] with Phl=NSO2R in CH2Cl2. These complexes exhibit reversible RuVI/V couple with E1/2 = -0.41 to -0.12 V vs Cp2Fe+/10 and undergo imido transfer reactions with styrenes, norbornene, cis-cyclooctene, indene, ethylbenzenes, cumene, 9,10-dihydroanthracene, xanthene, cyclohexene, toluene, and tetrahydrofuran to afford aziridines or amides in up to 85% yields. The second-order rate constants (k2) of the aziridination/amidation reactions at 298 K were determined to be (2.6 ± 0.1) × 10-5 to 14.4 ± 0.6 dm3 mol-1 s-1, which generally increase with increasing RuVI/V reduction potential of the imido complexes and decreasing C-H bond dissociation energy (BDE) of the hydrocarbons. A linear correlation was observed between log K (K is the k2 value divided by the number of reactive hydrogens) and BDE and between log k2 and E1/2(RuVI/V); the linearity in the former case supports a H-atom abstraction mechanism. The amidation by [RuVI(TMP)(NNs) 2] reverses the thermodynamic reactivity order cumene > ethylbenzene/toluene, with K(3° C-H)/K(2° C-H) = 0.2 and K(3° C-H)/K(1° C-H) = 0.8. © 2005 American Chemical Society.