Patent ID: 7378528

Claim:
A complex of ruthenium of the structural formula I, where X 1 and X 2 are identical or different and are each an anionic ligand, R 1 and R 2 are identical or different and are each hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group, where the hydrocarbon groups are identical or different and are selected independently from among straight-chain, branched, cyclic or noncyclic radicals from the group consisting of alkyl radicals having from 1 to 50 carbon atoms, alkenyl radicals having up to 50 carbon atoms, alkynyl radicals having up to 50 carbon atoms, aryl radicals having up to 30 carbon atoms and silyl radicals, or R 1 and R 2 form a ring, where one or more of the hydrogen atoms in the hydrocarbon or silyl groups or both the hydrocarbon and silyl group can be replaced independently by identical or different alkyl, aryl, alkenyl, alkynyl, metallocenyl, halogen, nitro, nitroso, hydroxy, alkoxy, aryloxy, amino, amido, carboxyl, carbonyl, thio or sulfonyl groups, the ligand L 1 is an N-heterocyclic carbene of the formulae II-V and the ligand L 2 is an N-heterocyclic carbene of the formulae III-V or an amine, imine, phosphine, phosphite, stibine, arsine, carbonyl compound, carboxyl compound, nitrile, alchol, ether, thiol or thioether, where R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 in the formulae II, III, IV and V are identical or different and are each hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group, where the hydrocarbon groups comprise identical or different, cyclic, noncyclic, straight-chain or/and branched radicals selected from the group consisting of alkyl radicals having from 1 to 50 carbon atoms, alkenyl radicals having up to 50 carbon atoms, alkynyl radicals having up to 50 carbon atoms and aryl radicals having up to 30 carbon atoms, in which at least one hydrogen may be replaced by functional groups, and where one or both of R 3 and R 4 may be identical or different and are halogen, nitro, nitroso, alkoxy, aryloxy, amido, carboxyl, carbonyl, thio or sulfonyl groups.