Molecular assembly with axial cyanato ligands and paddlewheel tetracarboxylatodiruthenium(II,III) fragments

Homo and heteropolymetallic chains constructed with [Ru-2(mu-O2CR)(4)](+) building blocks and OCN- and [Ag(OCN)(2)](-) connectors are described. In the complexes [Ru-2{mu-O2CC(Me)=CHEt}(4)(OCN)](n) (1) and {[Ru-2(mu-O2CMe)(4)][Ag-(OCN)(2)]}(n) (2) an infrequent mu(1,1)-O coordination mode of the OCN- ligand is observed. In addition, the formation of a Ag-OCN bond instead of the Ag-NCO coordination mode, which is more usual, is noteworthy in complex 2. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006).