A Commercially Available Ruthenium Compound for Catalytic Hydrophosphination

Hydrophosphination with a commercially available ruthenium compound, bis(cyclopentadienylruthenium dicarbonyl) dimer ([CpRu(CO)2]2), was explored. Styrene derivatives or Michael acceptors react readily with either primary or secondary phosphines in the presence of 0.1 mol% of [CpRu(CO)2]2 under photolysis with an inexpensive and commercially available UV-A 9W lamp. In comparison to related photoactivated hydrophosphination reactions with [CpFe(CO)2]2 as a catalyst, these ruthenium-catalyzed reactions proceed at greater relative rates with lower catalyst loadings.