Dario Braga, Fabrizia Grepioni, David B. Brown, Brian F. G. Johnson, Maria J. Calhorda and Luis F. Veiros
The two new cluster complexes
[Ru3H2(CO)9(C8H10
)] 1 and
[Ru3H(CO)9(C8H11)] 2
have been isolated as the products of thermolysis of
[Ru3(CO)12] in octane containing
cycloocta-1,3-diene. The two species are structural isomers ideally
differing only in the transfer of one hydrogen atom from the organic
ligand to the metal core. The organic ligand in 2 is bonded in
an allenyl µ3-η3 fashion, the first
allenylic bonded ring system to have been reported, whereas in 1
the ligand is, more conventionally, bound in
µ3-η2 fashion with the second unsaturated
CC bond not involved in bonding to the cluster. The
solid-state structures of 1 and 2 have been studied by
single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The bonding of the organic ligands in
the clusters has been investigated by molecular orbital calculations of
the extended-Hückel type.