Unexpected higher stabilisation of two classical antiaromatic frameworks with a ruthenium fragment compared to the osmium counterpart: origin probed by DFT calculations

Abstract

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to investigate the stability and aromaticity of metallapentalocyclobutadienes. The results reveal unexpected higher stabilisation achieved with a 3d ruthenium fragment compared to the 4d osmium counterpart. Moreover, direct 1–3 metal–carbon bonding in the metallabutadiene unit of these two complexes is negligible.