Reactivity of diaminogermylenes with ruthenium carbonyl: Ru3Ge3 and RuGe2 derivatives

The nature of the products of the reactions of Ru(3)(CO)(12)] with diaminogermylenes depends upon the volume and the cyclic or acyclic structure of the latter. Thus, the triruthenium cluster Ru(3){μ-Ge(NCH(2)CMe(3))(2)C(6)H(4)}(3)(CO)(9)], which has a planar Ru(3)Ge(3) core and an overall C(3h) symmetry, has been prepared in quantitative yield by treating Ru(3)(CO)(12)] with an excess of the cyclic 1,3-bis(neo-pentyl)-2-germabenzimidazol-2-ylidene in toluene at 100 °C, but under analogous reaction conditions, the acyclic and bulkier Ge(HMDS)(2) (HMDS = N(SiMe(3))(2)) quantitatively leads to the mononuclear ruthenium(0) derivative Ru{Ge(HMDS)(2)}(2)(CO)(3)]. Mixtures of products have been obtained from the reactions of Ru(3)(CO)(12)] with the cyclic and very bulky 1,3-bis(tert-butyl)-2-germaimidazol-2-ylidene under various reaction conditions. The Ru(3)Ge(3) and RuGe(2) products reported in this paper are the first ruthenium complexes containing diaminogermylene ligands.