Synthesis, characterisation and co-polymerisation of ruthenium 1,2-naphthoquinone-1-oxime complexes containing 4-vinylpyridine ligands

Ruthenium 1,2-naphthoquinone-1-oxime (1-nqoH) complexes cis,cis-[Ru{η2-N(O)C10H6O}2(CO)(vpy)] (3) and trans,cis-[Ru{η2-N(O)C10H6O}2(CO)(vpy)] (4) were synthesised by substituted decarbonylation reactions of dicarbonyl complexes cis,cis-[Ru{η2-N(O)C10H6O}2(CO)2] (1) and trans,cis-[Ru{η2-N(O)C10H6O}2(CO)2] (2), respectively. In addition, a dipyridine product trans,trans-[Ru{η2-N(O)C10H6O}2(vpy)2] (5) was also obtained in both reaction routes as the result of a ligand rearrangement during the substitution process of the second carbonyl ligand. The molecular structure of 3 was established by X-ray analysis. Co-polymerisation reactions were conducted on 3 with styrene as the co-monomer. The metal-containing moieties maintain the coordination geometry of the starting monomer 3 on the carbon-backbone chain.