Tetra- and hexanuclear cage molecules based on diruthenium tetracarbonyl sawhorse units: Synthesis and molecular structure of [{Ru2(CO)4 (PPh3)2}2 (O2CCH2CO2)2] and [{Ru2(CO)4 (PMe3)2}3 (O2CC6H4CO2)3]

Auzias, Mathieu; Therrien, Bruno; Süss-Fink, Georg

doi:10.1016/j.inoche.2007.08.026

Tetra- and hexanuclear cage molecules based on diruthenium tetracarbonyl sawhorse units: Synthesis and molecular structure of [{Ru2(CO)4 (PPh3)2}2 (O2CCH2CO2)2] and [{Ru2(CO)4 (PMe3)2}3 (O2CC6H4CO2)3]

Author(s)

Auzias, Mathieu

Date issued

2007

In

Inorganic Chemistry Communications, Elsevier, 2007/10/12/1420-1424

Subjects

cages sawhorse-type complexes carboxylato bridges macromolecular systems molecular triangle molecular loop

Abstract

The thermal reaction of Ru3 (CO)12 with malonic acid, followed by the addition of the corresponding ligand, yields the tetranuclear ruthenium complexes [{Ru2 (CO) 4L2}2 (O2CCH2CO2)2] (L = PPh3: 1, L = 3,5-Me2NC5H3: 2), while the reaction of Ru3 (CO)12 with terephthalic acid, followed by the addition of the corresponding ligand, gives rise to the formation of the hexanuclear ruthenium complexes [{Ru2 (CO)4L2}3 (O2CC6H4CO2)3] (L = PMe3: 3, L = 3,5-Me2NC5H3: 4). The single-crystal X-ray structure analyses for 1 and 3, reveal both cages to consist of Ru2 (CO)4 sawhorse units, 1 being a molecular loop, while 3 is a molecular triangle.