Ruthenium(III) Coordination to the Exocyclic Nitrogen of 9-Methyladenine and Stabilisation of the Rare Imine Tautomer by Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonding

The X-ray structure of trans-[RuCl3(dmtp)2(9-MeAde)] shows that this compound is the first crystallographic example of a ruthenium(III) complex with an adenine derivative coordinated as a monodentate ligand through the exocyclic N6 nitrogen; two intramolecular hydrogen bonds stabilise the coordination of the adenine, which is present as a neutral ligand in the rare tautomeric imine form with a unique short C6−N6 distance of 1.293(3) Å.