High-yield syntheses and electrochemistry of cis-[RuCl2(depe)2] and cis-[RuCl(CH3CN)(depe)2]+PF6 −

cis-[RuCl2(depe)2] (1) (depe=Et2PC2H4PEt2) is obtained in excellent yield and high isomeric purity by the reaction of [RuCl2(DMSO)4] with two equivalents of depe in acetone or ethyl acetate under reflux conditions. One of the chloride ligands is labile and readily displaced by CH3CN to afford the cationic monosubstitution product cis-[RuCl(CH3CN)(depe)2]+(2), which was isolated as the PF6 − salt. The X-ray crystal structure of 1 was determined. The redox properties of 1 and 2 as well as the chloride displacement from 1 by CH3CN were studied by cyclic and square wave voltammetry.