Crystal structure of di-µ-(dimethylsilylene)-bis[tricarbonyl(trimethyl-silyl)ruthenium(III)] and a re-evaluation of the metal–metal interaction in tri-µ-chloro-diruthenium complexes

Abstract

The molecular structure of the title compound has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis from diffractometer data. The structure was solved by Patterson and Fourier methods and refined by least squares to R 0·060 for 658 independent reflections. Crystals are monoclinic, space group P2₁/c, a= 10·64, b= 9·34, c= 14·00, β= 109°, Z= 2. The molecule, which is similar to its tin analogue, contains a Ru–Ru bond of 2·96 Å. The relevance of this result to metal–metal bonding in tri-µ-chloro-diruthenium complexes is discussed.