Half-Sandwich Ruthenium Complexes for One-Pot Synthesis of Quinolines and Tetrahydroquinolines: Diverse Catalytic Activity in the Coupled Cyclization and Hydrogenation Process.

Four types of half-sandwich ruthenium complexes with an N,O-coordinate mode based on hydroxyindanone-imine ligands have been prepared in good yields. These stable ruthenium complexes exhibited high activity in the catalytic synthesis of quinolines from the reactions of amino alcohols with different types of ketones or secondary alcohols under very mild conditions. Moreover, the methodology for the direct one-pot synthesis of tetrahydroquinoline derivatives from amino alcohols and ketones has been also developed on the basis of the continuous catalytic activity of this ruthenium catalyst in the selective hydrogenation of the obtained quinoline derivatives with a low catalyst loading. The corresponding products, quinolines and tetrahydroquinoline derivatives, were afforded in good to excellent yields. The efficient and diverse catalytic activity of these ruthenium complexes suggested their potential large-scale application. All of the ruthenium complexes were characterized by various spectroscopies to confirm their structures.