Syntheses and structures of homo- and heterobimetallic, chloro-bridged complexes containing the RuCl3(AsPh3)n fragment (n=1, 2)

The reaction of [RuCl3(AsPh3)2(MeOH)] with the dimeric complexes [(cod)RhCl]2, [(ppy)RhCl]2 (ppy=cyclometalated 2-phenylpyridine), [(cymene)RuCl2]2 and [Cp*MCl2]2 (M=Rh, Ir) has been investigated. The structure of the resulting products was shown to depend on the reaction partner. Whereas for the rhodium complexes [(cod)RhCl]2 and [(ppy)RhCl]2, heterobimetallic compounds with two halogeno-bridges were found, the reactions with the halfsandwich complexes [(cymene)RuCl2]2 and [Cp*MCl2]2 gave triply bridged products with concomitant formation of mononuclear [(π-ligand)MCl2(AsPh3)] side products. The new complexes were all characterized by single crystal X-ray analysis.