Ruthenium(II) carbonyl complexes containing pyridine carboxamide ligands and PPh₃/AsPh₃/Py coligands: synthesis, spectral characterization, catalytic and antioxidant studies.

New ruthenium(II) carbonyl complexes bearing pyridine carboxamide and triphenylphosphine/triphenylarsine/pyridine have been prepared by direct reaction of ruthenium(II) precursors with some pyridine carboxamide ligands, N,N-bis(2-pyridinecarboxamide)-1,2-ethane (H(2)L(1)), N,N-bis(2-pyridinecarboxamide)-1,2-benzene (H(2)L(2)) and N,N-bis(2-pyridinecarboxamide)-trans-1,2-cyclohexane (H(2)L(3)). The organic ligands offering two N(amide) and two N(pyridine) donor sites to the metal centre. They have been characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, UV-Visible, NMR ((1)H, (13)C and (31)P) and ESI-MS techniques. Based on the above data, an octahedral structure has been assigned for all the complexes. The catalytic efficiency of the complexes in transfer hydrogenation of ketones in the presence of iPrOH/KOH and N-alkylation of amine in the presence of tBuOK was examined. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the ligands and its ruthenium(II) complexes were determined by DPPH radical, nitric oxide radical, hydroxyl radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging methods, which indicates that the ruthenium(II) complexes exhibit more effective antioxidant activity than the ligands alone.