Immobilization of a cationic ruthenium(II) complex containing the hemilabile phosphaallyl ligand in hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) and application of this material as hydrogenation catalyst

The cationic ruthenium(II) complex [(η5-MeC5H4)Ru(η3-PPh2CHCH2)(η1-PPh2CHCH2)]+ (1) containing the hemilabile phosphaallyl ligand in two different coordination modes has been immobilized inside the pores of aluminated hexagonal mesoporous silica HMS(Si/Al = 40) by direct ion exchange method. This material was characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, FTIR, solid state NMR (29Si, 27Al), UV–Vis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. The textural properties were determined from nitrogen adsorption at 77 K. (1)/HMS(Si/Al = 40) was shown to be active and selective in the catalytic hydrogenation of phenylacetylene.