Synthesis and Reactivity of Germyl complex of Ruthenium(II)

Abstract Reaction of [RuCl(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )L] and [RuCl(η 5 -C 9 H 7 )L] (L= 1,2-[bis(diphenyl) phosphanyloxy]-1,2-diphenylethane) with an excess of GeCl 2 ·dioxane afforded the half-sandwich trichlorogermyl complexes [Ru(GeCl 3 )(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )L] ( 1a ) and [Ru(GeCl 3 )(η 5 -C 9 H 7 )L] ( 1b ). Trihydridogermyl derivatives [Ru(GeH 3 )(Cp')L] [Cp'= η 5 -C 5 Me 5 ( 2a ), η 5 -C 9 H 7 ( 2b )] were obtained by treating 1a and 1b with LiAlH 4 . Reaction of compound 1a with MeMgBr gave the monomethyl derivative [Ru(GeMeCl 2 )(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )L] ( 3a ) while the reaction between the complex 1b and MeMgBr yielded the trimethylgermyl derivative [Ru(GeMe 3 )(η 5 -C 9 H 7 )L] ( 3b) . All the complexes present optical activity. The complexes were characterized spectroscopically and the X-ray crystal structure of [Ru(GeCl 3 )(η 5 -C 5 Me 5 )L] ( 1a ) was determined.