Daniele Cauzzi, Claudia Graiff, Giovanni Predieri, Antonio Tiripicchio and Carlo Vignali
The reaction of [Ru3(CO)12] with dppmSe2 afforded the open-triangular nido cluster [Ru3(µ3-Se)2(CO)7(µ-dppm)] 1, the closo-octahedral species [Ru4(µ4-Se)2(µ-CO)(CO)8(µ-dppm)] 2 and the cubane-like cage [Ru4(µ3-Se)4(CO)10(µ-dppm)] 3. Multinuclear NMR data indicated a fluxional behaviour for 1 in solution consisting both in the reversible migration of a metal–metal bond in the cluster and in the oscillation of the methylene group of the dppm ligand. Pyrolysis of 1 gave the condensation derivative [Ru6(µ3-Se)4(CO)12(µ-dppm)2] containing a central 64-electron butterfly core.