Ruthenium(II) and (III) complexes of triphenylstibine: a reinvestigation and the X-ray structure of trans-RuCl 2(SbPh 3) 4

Abstract

The reaction of RuCl 3· nH 2O with SbPh 3 under a variety of conditions produced trans-RuCl 2(SbPh 3) 4, which was characterised by a single crystal X-ray study. The crystals are monoclinic, space group C2 (No. 5) with a=26.50(4), b=26.49(5), c=20.16(1) Å, β=109.73(9)°, Z=8. The structure was refined to R=0.041 using 5106 reflections with F>4σ(F). RuSb=2.625(1)–2.632(1), RuCl=2.408(2)–2.439(1) Å. The complexes RuBr 2(SbPh 3) 4, trans- [RuX 2(SbPh 3) 4]BF 4 (XCl or Br) have been prepared and characterised by analysis, IR and UV-Vis spectroscopies, magnetic and conductance measurements, and by cyclic voltammetry. All attempts to obtain the reported RuCl 2(SbPh 3) 3 or mer-RuCl 3(SbPh 3) 3 have been unsuccessful.