Diastereoselectivity at chiral metal center of half-sandwich-type ruthenium complexes with planar-chiral cyclopentadienyl ligands in multiple ligand transfer reaction

The triple ligand transfer reaction between planar-chiral cyclopentadienyl-ruthenium complexes Cp′Ru(NCMe)₃]PF₆] (1) (Cp′ = 1-(COOR²)-2-Me-4-R¹C₅H₂; R¹ = Me, Ph, t-Bu) and iron complexes CpFe(CO)(L)X (2) (L = PMe₃, PMe₂Ph, PMePh₂, PPh₃; X = I, Br) resulted in the formation of metal-centered chiral ruthenium complexes Cp′Ru(CO)(L)X (3) in moderate yields with diastereoselectivities of up to 68% de. The configurations of some major diastereomers were determined to be by X-ray crystallography. The diastereoselectivity of 3 was under kinetic control and not affected by the steric effect of the substituents on the Cp′ ring of 1 and the phosphine of 2. Although the double ligand transfer reaction between Cp′Ru{P(OMe)₃}(NCMe)₂]PF₆] (7) and CpFe(CO)₂X (8) produced Cp′Ru{P(OMe)₃}(CO)X (9), the selectivity at the ruthenium center was low.