Syntheses and X-ray crystal structures of two ruthenium(II) complexes derived from acetonitrile and dimethylphenylphosphonite

The ruthenium acetonitrile complex [RuCl2(NCCH3)2{P(OCH3)2C6H5}2] (1) and the stable salt [Ru(CH3CN)4{P(OCH3)2C6H5}2][BF4]2 (2) have been prepared from [RuCl2(NCCH3)2(COD)] and the salt [Ru(COD)(CH3CN)4][BF4]2 respectively. The two compounds have been characterized by IR, microanalytical, NMR measurements and single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The ruthenium in both compounds has almost ideal octahedral coordination geometry. One of the complexes, [RuCl2{P(OCH3)2C6H5}2(NCCH3)2] (1) has shown significant catalytic activity for the transfer hydrogenation of simple ketones while the other, [Ru{P(OCH3)2C6H5}2(NCCH3)4][BF4]2 (2) did not show any catalytic activity for this reaction.