Coupling of acetylide ligands on an electron-rich tetraruthenium diphosphido framework: Synthesis, structure, and reactivity studies of Ru-4(CO)(9)(mu-PPh(2))(2)(C(2)Bu(t))(2) and Ru-4(CO)(8)(mu-PPh(2))(2)(C(4)Bu(2)(t))

[[abstract]]Thermolysis of Ru-2(CO)(6)(mu-PPh(2))(C(2)Bu(t)) (1) in toluene afforded Ru-4(CO)(9)(mu-PPh(2))(2)(C2BUt)(2) (2) in which the acetylide ligands are coordinated to a novel 64-electron butterfly platform. Upon thermolysis, this complex underwent C-C bond coupling to give the diyne complexes Ru-4(CO)(8)(mu-PPh(2))(2)(C(4)Bu(2)(t)) (3) and Ru-3(CO)(7)(mu-PPh(2))(2)(C(4)Bu(2)(t)) (4) through sequential CO elimination and fragmentation, respectively[[fileno]]2010302010128[[department]]化學