X-Ray structure of the dimer of bis(tetramethyldiphosphinoethane)ruthenium: intermolecular oxidative addition of a C–H bond to a metal atom

The compound of stoicheiometry (Me2PCH2CH2PMe2)2Ru, discovered a decade ago by Chatt and Davidson, is shown, by X-ray crystallography, to consist of centrosymmetric binuclear molecules resulting from oxidative addition of a methyl C–H bond originating on a ligand chelated to one Ru atom to the other Ru atom; the net result is a molecule with two octahedrally co-ordinated Ru atoms at the 1 and 4 positions of a [graphic omitted] ring, and a hydrogen atom ligand on each Ru atom at the most hindered position.