Chelate ring-opening aminophosphine complexes of ruthenium(II)

The preparations and X-ray crystal structures of the Ru(II) aminophosphine complexes trans, cis-[RuCl2(H(Bz)NCH2CH2PPh2-N,P)2] (1), trans, cis-[RuCl2(H2NCH2CH2PPh2-N,P)2] (3) and [(η6-C6H6)Ru(PPh2CH2CH2NMe2-N,P)Cl][PF6] (5) are described. Complexes 1 and 3 are octahedral and contain a marked distortion of the ClRuCl axis from linearity. Complex 3 undergoes facile chelate ring-opening in DMSO and CH3CN solutions to give complexes containing one chelated aminophosphine ligand and one pendant ligand coordinated only through P. The X-ray structure of trans, cis-[RuCl2(DMSO-S)2(H2NCH2CH2P(O)Ph2-N,O)] (4) containing an oxidised aminophosphine ligand is also reported.