Bimetallic ruthenium-tin chemistry: synthesis and molecular structure of arene ruthenium complexes containing trichlorostannyl ligands

A series of neutral, anionic and cationic arene ruthenium complexes containing the trichlorostannyl ligand have been synthesised from SnCl2 and the corresponding arene ruthenium dichloride dimers [(η6-arene)Ru(μ2-Cl)Cl]2 (arene = C6H6, PriC6H4Me). While the reaction with triphenylphosphine and stannous chloride only gives the neutral mono(trichlorostannyl) complexes [(η6-C6H6)Ru(PPh3)(SnCl3)Cl] (1) and [(η6-PriC6H4Me)Ru(PPh3)(SnCl3)Cl] (2), the neutral di(trichlorostannyl) complex [(η6-PriC6H4Me)Ru(NCPh)(SnCl3)2] (3) could be obtained for the para-cymene derivative with benzonitrile as additional ligand. By contrast, the analogous reaction with the benzene derivative leads to a salt compose…