Ruthenium complexes with polymeric alpha-diimine containing poly [aryliminoacenaphthene] fragments

alpha-diimine/Ru, Pd and Ni complexes are very active homogeneous catalysts for several reactions. In particular bis(arylimino)acenaphthene (Ar-BIAN) compounds have been widely studied in polymerizations and reactions involving the use of carbon monoxide. We developed a method for the synthesis of oligomeric Ar-BIAN (oligo-BIAN) from acenaphthenequinone and 4,4'-methylenedianiline and for their use as building blocks in polyamide synthesis (poly-BIAN). Such polymeric Schiff bases could be useful both for developing a heterogenized catalyst and for developing multi-nuclear organometallic species that are known to be good catalysts in olefins polymerization reactions. The investigation of the reaction between [Ru(CO)3Cl2(THF)] and the synthesized macromolecular Schiff bases showed different coordination modes of the poly-BIAN with respect to the oligo-BIAN and the non-polymeric tolyl BIAN, with the oxygen atom of the terephthaloyl connecting unit becoming the actual binding site in the former case.