Cleavage of thioether bridges in dinuclear ruthenium complexes by Lewis bases: Synthesis and crystal structure of [RuCl2(CO)(THT)(PPh3)2]

The dinuclear ruthenium(II) complex [Ru2(CO)2Cl4(THT)2(μ-THT)2], 1, (THT = tetrahydrothiophene) exhibiting bridging thioether ligands yields mononuclear complexes upon treatment with Lewis bases by cleavage of the respective thioether bridges. Reacting 1 with an excess THT leads to the isolation of [RuCl2(THT)4], 2, whereas the reaction with triphenylphosphane produces the mononuclear ruthenium compound [RuCl2(CO)(THT)(PPh3)2], 3. The latter compound was also characterized by X-ray diffraction.