Cycloheptatriene: a new versatile co-ordination ligand. Synthesis and structural characterization of [Ru6C(CO)17] derivatives
Abstract
The reaction of [Ru6C(CO)17] and cycloheptatriene (CHT) gives rise to the formation of several products which have been fully characterized in solution and by single-crystal X-ray diffraction as [Ru6C(CO)15(ENBD)] 1 (ENBD = ethylenenorbornadiene), [Ru6C(CO)14(C7H8)] 2 and [Ru6C(CO)11(η5-C7H9)(µ3-η2∶η2∶η3-C7H7)] 3. Compounds 2 and 3 provide an example of the co-ordinative variability of carbocyclic rings based on the C7-frame. The ligand in 1 contains nine carbon atoms and is formed from C7H9 by an unknown process. The CHT molecule has also been observed to convert to toluene through a ring contraction activated by the cluster to form the known compound [Ru6C(CO)14(η6-C6H5CH3)] 4.