Dichloromethane alkylates a trithiolato-ruthenium complex to yield a methylene-bridged thioether core. Synthesis and structural comparison to the thiolato-ruthenium precursor

The previously reported triphosphino/trithiolato-ruthenium anion, [tris-(2-diphenylphosphinothia-phenolato)ruthenium(II)](-), [Ru(DPPBT)(3)](-), has been isolated as the PPN salt (PPN = bis(triphenylphosphoranylidene) ammonium), 1, from chlorobenzene/ether as light-orange crystalline plates, and the X-ray crystal structure has been determined. In dichloromethane, the cis positioned thiolates are alkylated by solvent yielding the methylene-bridged triphosphino/dithioether/thiolato complex [(bis-(2-diphenylphosphinothiaphenolato) methane) (2-diphenyl-phosphinothiaphenolato) ruthenium(II)]chloride, [Ru((DPPBT)(2)CH2)(DPPBT)]Cl (2). Dichloromethane solutions of 1 layered with hexanes yield 2 as orange cubes. The ruthenium-sulfur bond distances in the alkylated, thioether product are slightly shorter than in the thiolate precursor. Within 2, the iron-thioether bond distances are comparable to,the iron-thiolate distances.