Dinuclear μ-hydrido arene complexes of ruthenium(II)

Abstract Reaction of [RuCl 2 (η-C 6 Me 6 )] 2 with aqueous Na 2 CO 3 in propan-2-ol or with hydrogen in the presence of triethylamine gives a dinuclear mono-μ-hydrido complex [Ru 2 (μ-H)(μ-Cl) 2 (η-C 6 Me 6 ) 2 ]Cl which is reduced by NaBH 4 in ethanol to a tri-μ-hydrido species, isolated as its PF 6 salt [Ru 2 (μ-H) 3 (η-C 6 Me 6 ) 2 ]PF 6 . Related complexes, e.g. [Ru 2 (μ-H)(μ-O 2 CMe)(μ-X)(μ-C 6 Me 6 ) 2 PF 6 (X = O 2 CMe, Cl) have been isolated from the reaction of acetato complexes Ru(O 2 CMe)X(μ-arene) (X = Cl, O 2 CMe) with propan-2-ol.