Abstract
Conversion of 4'-(2,5-dihydrophenyl)butanol or N-trifluoroacetyl-2,5-dihydrobenzylamine with MCl3 center dot nH(2)O (M-Ru, Os) affords the corresponding dimeric eta(6)-arene complexes in good to excellent yields. Under similar reaction conditions, the amine functionalized arene precursor 2,5-dihydrobenzylamine yields the corresponding Ru(II) complex. For osmium, HCl induced oxidation leads to formation of [OsCl6](2-) salts. However, under optimized reaction conditions, conversion of the precursor 2,5-dihydrobenzylamine chloride results in clean formation of eta(6)-arene Os(II) complex. X-ray structures of [(eta(6)-benzyl ammonium)(dmso) RuCl2] and (2,5-dihydrobenzyl ammonium) 4[OsCl6](2)confirm the spectroscopic data. High stability towards air and acid as well as enhanced solubility in water is observed for all eta(6)-arene complexes. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.