RUTHENIUM COMPLEXES CONTAINING TERTIARY PHOSPHINES AND IMIDAZOLE OR 2,2'-BIPYRIDINE LIGANDS

Complexes RuCl3(PPh(3))L(2) (L=MeIm (1a), Im (1b)) and [RuCl2(PPh(3))(2)(bipy)]Cl . 4H(2)O (2) have been synthesized via the ruthenium(III) precursor RuCl3(PPh(3))(2) (DMA), and characterized, including an X-ray structural analysis for 1a (MeIm=N-methylimidazole, Im=imidazole, bipy=2,2'-bipyridyl, and DMA=N,N'-dimethylacetamide). Crystals of 1a are monoclinic, space group P2(1)/n, a=10.5491(5), b=20.4934(9), c=12.8285(4) Angstrom, P=90.166(4)degrees, Z=4. The structure, which reveals a mer configuration for the chlorides, and cis-methylimidazoles, was solved by conventional heavy atom methods and was refined by full-matrix least-square procedures to R=0.041 and R(w),=0.042 for 3328 reflections with I greater than or equal to 3 sigma(I). From the RuCl2(PPh(3))(3) precursor, the ruthenium(II) complexes RuCl2(PPh(3))(2)L(2) and [RuCl(PPh(3))L(4)]Cl have been made (L=Im or MeIm), while [RuCl(dppb)Im(3)]Cl has been made from [RuCl2(dppb)](2)(mu-dppb) (dppb=Ph(2)P(CH2)(4)PPh(2)).