Formation of a Dinuclear Imido Complex from the Reaction of a Ruthenium(VI) Nitride with a Ruthenium(II) Hydride

Yi XY; Ng HY; Williams ID; Leung WH

Inorganic Chemistry, Vol.50, No.4, 1161-1163, 2011

The treatment of [Ru(L-OEt)(N)Cl-2] (1; L-OEt(-) = [Co(eta(5)-C5H5){P(O)(OEt)(2)}(3)](-)) with Et3SiH affords [Ru(L-OEt)Cl-2(NH3)] (2), whereas that with [Ru(L-OEt)(H)(CO)(PPh3)] (3) gives the dinuclear imido complex [(L-OEt)Cl2Ru(mu-NH)Ru(CO)(PPh3)(L-OEt)] (4). The imido group in 4 binds to the two ruthenium atoms unsymmetrically with Ru-N distances of 1.818(6) and 1.952(6) angstrom. The reaction between 1 and 3 at 25 degrees C in a toluene solution is first order in both complexes with a second-order rate constant determined to be (7.2 +/- 0.4) x 10(-5) M-1 s(-1).