Control of the metal core geometries and dynamic behaviour of heteronuclear group 1b metal cluster compounds using bidentate phosphine ligands: X-ray crystal structures of [Au2Ru4(µ-H)(µ3-H)(µ-Ph2PCH2PPh2)(CO)12] and [Ag2Ru4(µ3-H)2(µ-Ph2PCH2PPh2)(CO)12]

Abstract

The nature of the phosphine ligands in the series of mixed-metal cluster compounds [M₂Ru₄H₂(CO)₁₂L₂]{L₂=µ-Ph₂P[CH₂]_nPPh₂, M = Cu or Ag, n= 1–6 or M = Au, n= 1; L = PPh₃, M = Cu, Ag, or Au} controls both the ground state geometries that these species adopt and the free energies of activation of the intramolecular metal core rearrangements that they undergo in solution; these observations provide the first evidence to support a mechanism for this novel fluxional process.