Dinuclear Ruthenium and Osmium Arene Trihydrido Complexes: Versatile Water-Soluble Synthons in Organometallic Chemistry

A review. Recent developments in the chem. of dinuclear Ru arene complexes are reviewed. Although cationic Ru and Os arene trihydrido complexes were known for >20 years, little synthetic use was made of these unsatd. mols. prior to the discovery of their hydrophilicity. Most salts of dinuclear [(?6-arene)2M2(?2-H)3]+ (M = Ru, Os) are sol. not only in polar org. solvents but also in H2O. The aq. solns. can be handled without hydrolytic degrdn. This property conditions these unsatd. complexes (with an electron count of only 30) to be versatile synthons in organometallic chem., esp. in reactions carried out in H2O. [on SciFinder(R)]