Spectrometric,catalytic, and antimicrobial studies of mononuclear Ru(III) Schiff-base complexes

A series of air stable low spin Ru(III) complexes, [RuX₂(EPh₃)(L)] (where X = Cl or Br; E = P or As; L = monobasic tridentate Schiff-base ligand), have been synthesized by reacting [RuCl₃(PPh₃)₃], [RuCl₃(AsPh₃)₃], and [RuBr₃(PPh₃)₃] with the Schiff base in 1 : 1 molar ratio in benzene. These complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and EPR spectroscopy together with magnetic susceptibility. The redox behaviors of the complexes have been investigated by cyclic voltammetric technique. Catalytic efficiency of the ruthenium complexes was determined for aryl–aryl coupling and the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols into their corresponding aldehydes and ketones in the presence of molecular oxygen as co-oxidant. All complexes were screened for antibacterial activity.