Synthesis, crystal structure and catalytic activity in reductive amination of di-chlorido-(η--cymene)(2'-di-cyclo-hexyl-phosphanyl-2,6-di-meth-oxy-biphen-yl-κ)ruthenium(II).

The title compound, [RuCl(CH)(CHOP)] (), crystallizes in the monoclinic space group 2/ with two crystallographically independent mol-ecules ( and ) in the asymmetric unit. The geometries of both mol-ecules are very similar and distinguished only by the twist angles of the two benzene rings in the phosphine substituents [89.54 (14) and 78.36 (14)° for mol-ecules and , respectively]. The Ru atoms have classical pseudo-tetra-hedral piano-stool coordination environments. The conformation of each mol-ecule is stabilized by intra-molecular C-H⋯O and C-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds and C-H⋯π inter-actions. The two mol-ecules are linked by a C-H⋯Cl hydrogen bond. In the crystal, the mol-ecules are further linked by C-H⋯ π inter-actions, forming ----- chains propagating along the -axis direction. Complex is an active catalyst for reductive amination reaction. The catalytic activity of this complex can be explained by the lability of the -cymene ligand, which can be replaced by two-electron ligands such as CO or amine.