Synthesis of vinyl-substituted polypyridyl ligands through Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of potassium vinyltrifluoroborate with bromopolypyridines

Suzuki-Miyauru cross-coupling of bromopolypyridines with potassium vinyltrifluoroborate affords vinyl-substituted polypyridyl ligands in moderate to good yields. This reaction allows simple and practical syntheses of numerous vinyl-substituted polypyridines, such as 4'-vinyl-2,2':6',2'-terpyridine, 5,5'-divinyl-2,2'-bipyridine, and 4,4'-divinyl-2,2'-bipyridine. In addition, a new ruthenium complex, Ru(5,5'-divinyl-2,2'-bipyridine)(3)](2+), was synthesized and found to undergo reductive electropolymerization smoothly.