REACTIONS OF QUINONES AND QUINOID MOLECULES WITH THE CP-ASTERISK-RU+ FRAGMENT - ELECTRON REDISTRIBUTION AND TRANSPOSITION REACTIONS

The Cp*Ru+ fragment, generated by protonation of [Cp*RuOMe]2 with CF3SO3H, reacts with benzoquinone in CH2Cl2 to Yield [Cp*Ru(eta-6-HOC6H4OH)](CF3SO3) (1), a hydroquinone complex. Attempts to isolate stable biradical species through reaction of Cp*Ru+ with L (L = TCNQ, DMTCNQ, DETCNQ) yielded insoluble materials formulated as {(Cp*Ru)2L}(CF3SO3)2 (2-4). Reactions with quinoid compounds, namely 3,3,6,6-tetramethoxy-1,4-cyclohexadiene (6) and 4,4-dimethoxycyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-one (5), yielded respectively [Cp*Ru(eta-6-1,2,4-(OMe)3C6H3](CF3SO3) (9) and a mixture of compounds including [Cp*Ru(eta-6-1,4-(OMe)2C6H4)](CF3SO3) (8) and [Cp*Ru(n-6-p-MeOC6H4OH)](CF3SO3) (7). Authentic samples of 7 and 8 were prepared from reactions of Cp*Ru+ with the respective arenes.