Novel behaviour of dialkylamino-substituted propargylic alcohols in reactions with arene ruthenium(II) complexes

Reaction of arene ruthenium(II) derivatives (C6Me4R2)RuCl2(L)(R = H, Me; L = PMe3, PPh3) with the prop-2-ynylic alcohol derivative HCC–C(H)(OH)(C6H4-p-NMe2) in dichloromethane results in the formation of new oxametallacyclic ruthenium(II) complexes {(C6Me4R2)Ru[CHC(C6H4-p-NMe2)CHO](L)} PF6via an unprecedented 1,2-migration of the dimethylaminophenyl substituent; the structure of one compound (R = H; L = PPh3) is determined by an X-ray crystal structure analysis.