Triruthenium and triosmium carbonyl clusters containing chiral bidentate NHC-thiolate ligands derived from levamisole

The trinuclear complexes [M3(mu-Cl)(mu-S approximately CH)(CO)9] (M=Ru, Os; S approximately CH=1-ethylenethiolate-3-H-4-(S)-phenylimidazolin-2-ylidene) and [M3(mu-H)(mu-S approximately CMe)(CO)9] (M=Ru, Os; S approximately CMe=1-ethylenethiolate-3-methyl-4-(S)-phenylimidazolin-2-ylidene) have been prepared by treating [Ru3(CO)12] and [Os3(CO)10(MeCN)2] with levamisolium chloride or [M3(mu-H)(CO)11]- with methyl levamisolium triflate, respectively. The chiral N-heterocyclic carbene-thiolate ligands S approximately CH and S approximately CMe arise from the oxidative addition of the C-S bond of levamisolium or methyl levamisolium cations to anionic trinuclear clusters.