Carbonyl Transition Metal Complexes of a Silaborate Ligand

Reaction between three equivalents of the silaborate [NEt4][MeSiB10H12] (2) and one equivalent of [Ru3(CO)12] resulted in almost quantitative formation of the mononuclear transition metal complex [NEt4][Ru(CO)3(η5-MeSiB10H10)] (5), which was characterized by X-ray structure analysis. The trinuclear ruthenium complex [NEt4][Ru3(CO)8(η5-MeSiB10H10)] (7) was synthesized in high yield from the reaction of one equivalent of 2 and [Ru3(CO)12]. The cluster 7 reacts with two equivalents of PMe2Ph with substitution of two carbonyl groups to give the substitution product [NEt4][Ru3(CO)6(PMe2Ph)2(η5-MeSiB10H10)] (8).