Patent ID: 8563739

Claim:
A novel class of ruthenium complexes having general formula (I) represented as [RuLmL′XY], in which X is Cl, Br, I or hydrogen, Y is Cl, Br, I, hydrogen or BH 4 ; L is ligand selected from the following groups: a) monophosphine having general formula R 1 R 2 R 3 P, wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 is aliphatic alkyl groups or aromatic groups having 1 to 10 carbon atoms; b) bidentate phosphine with general formula R 5 R 6 P—R 4 —PR 7 R 8 , wherein R 4 is a chiral or achiral organic hydrocarbon backbone; R 5 , R 6 , R 7 and R 8 is aliphatic alkyl group or aromatic groups having 1 to 10 carbons; m is 2 when equal monodentate phosphine ligands are selected from group a); m is 1 when the bisphosphine is selected from b); L′ is a bidentate hybrid amine ligand selected from the following groups (structure II to structure V): wherein R 9 is hydrogen or alkyl groups having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, when R 9 is not hydrogen, the aforementioned hybrid amine ligands (II to V) are chiral ligands having either R or S configuration; the alkyl group for R 9 is selected from a group consisting of methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tertiary-butyl, isopentyl, cyclopentyl, isohexyl, cyclohexyl, phenyl and benzyl; R 10 , R 11 , R 12 are independently hydrogen or alkyl groups, aryl groups, arylalkyl groups, each having up to 12 carbon atoms; the alkyl groups are selected from a group consisting of methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, isobutyl, tertiary-butyl, pentyl, hexyl, isopentyl, cyclopentyl and cyclohexyl; the aryl groups are phenyl or substituted phenyls, the arylalkyl group are benzyl or alkyl-substituted benzyl; A is alkyl, alkoxy or aryl group, each having 1 to 8 carbon atoms; A is also independently hydrogen, halogen, nitro, amino, sulfonic acid; n is an integer from 1 to 6 equal to the number of unsubstituted aromatic ring carbons; the alkyl group for A is selected from a group consisting of methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tertiary-butyl, isopentyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, fluoromethyl and trifluoromethyl; alkoxy group for A is methoxy, ethoxy or tertiary-butoxy; aryl group for A is phenyl, substituted phenyl, benzyl or substituted benzyl.