Facile synthesis of a ruthenium carbene complex with a cis-chelating diphosphinoethane ligand

The neutral carbene complex (tBu2PCH2CH2PtBu2-κ2P)Cl2RuCHPh (1) with bis(di-t-butylphosphino)ethane (dtbpe) as a cis-chelating ligand is easily accessible from commercially available trans-(PCy3)2Cl2RuCHPh by phosphine exchange. Its structure in the solid state was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Structural features of this compound in solution were elucidated by various NMR experiments.