A series of cationic Ru(ii)(η6-p-cymene) complexes with thioether-functionalised N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have been prepared and fully characterized.

A dehydrogenation of primary amine to give the corresponding nitrile under oxidant‐ and base‐free conditions catalysed by simple [Ru(p‐cym)Cl2]2 with no extra ligand is reported. The system is highly selective for alkyl amines, whereas benzylamine derivatives gave the nitrile product together with the imine in a ratio ranging from 14:1 to 4:1 depending on the substrate. Preliminary mechanistic investigations have been performed to identify the key factors that govern the selectivity.

A series of platinum(II) complexes bearing thioetherfunctionalized N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have been synthesized and characterized. The hemilabile and reversible character (i.e., coordination/decoordination) of the sulfur moiety in these platinum complexes has been established by ligand displacement (addition of pyridine) and ligand abstraction (on sil-[a] 161 1.64-1.58 (m, 1 H), 1.81-1.72 (m, 2 H), 2.15-2.05 (m, 2 H), 2.75-2.80 (m, 1 H), 3.29-3.20 (t, J = 7 Hz, 2 H, S-CH 2 ), 4.67 (t, J = 7 Hz, 2 H, N-CH 2 ), 5.72 (s, 2 H, N-CH 2 ), 6.60 (d, J = 2 Hz, 1 H, CH imid ), 6.96 (d, J = 2 Hz, 1 H, CH imid ), 7.43-7.29 (m, 5 H), 7.50 (d, J = 7 Hz, 2 H), 7.73 (t, J = 8 Hz, 1 H), 9.04 (d, J = 5 Hz, 2 H, CH pyr ) ppm. 13 C NMR (101 MHz, CDCl 3 ): δ = 25.8 (2 CH 2 ), 26.3 (2 CH 2 ), 29.5 (S-CH 2 ), 34.