Reduction of Pyrazine Oxide, free and coordinated to Ruthenium(II)

Abstract

Coordination of N 2O to R u(II) enormously increases the rate of reduction of the oxide by V2+ or by C r2+.' A possible explanation of the effect is that Ru(II) assists in the reduction of the coordinated N 2O, with the internal and the external reducing agents cooperating in producing a 2e~ reduction of N 2O. On the basis of this hypothesis, it seemed reasonable to suppose that pyrazine oxide when coordinated to Ru(II) would also undergo reduction more rapidly than does free pyrazine oxide. Accordingly, we undertook to study the rate of reduction of both.