Chloro(1‐{3‐[2‐(di­phenyl­phos­phanyl‐κP)­ethyl]‐η6‐benzyl}‐3,5‐di­methyl‐1H‐pyrazole‐κN2)­ruthenium(II) tri­fluoro­methane­sulfonate

To address the question of the role of chirality at the metal in enantioselective catalysis, a pseudo‐tetrahedral three‐legged piano‐stool complex has been prepared, i.e. RuCl(C₂₆H₂₇N₂P)](CF₃SO₃). Anchoring a phosphine and a pyrazole tether to an arene (PArN) yields, after η⁶:η¹:η¹ coordination to ruthenium, {η⁶:η¹:η¹‐(PArN)}RuCl]⁺ as a 1:1 mixture of enantiomers. Unfortunately, all attempts to resolve the enantiomers failed. The structure solution revealed the presence of racemic crystals.