Easy abstraction of a hydride anion from an alkyl C–H bond of a coordinated bis(N-heterocyclic carbene)

Abstract

The high basicity of a trimethylene-linked bis(NHC), acting as a chelating ligand in a ruthenium(0) complex, is responsible for its involvement in a room-temperature reaction in which the metal atom to which this bis(NHC) ligand is coordinated replaces a hydride anion of the ligand trimethylene linker, which can be taken by a hydride abstractor as unusual, in that role, as [Ru₃(CO)₁₂].