Bis(diphenylphosphino)methane complexes of ruthenium(0) and ruthenium(II)

[Ru(cod)(cot)](cod = cyclo-octa-1,5-diene, cot = cyclo-octa-1,3,5-triene) reacts with two equivalents of bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm) to yield [Ru (cod)(dppm)2], a compound containing both a monodentate and a bidentate dppm. This reacts in turn with [Ru(cod)(cot)] to give [Ru2(cod)2(cot)(dppm)2] in the solid state, with CO to give [Ru(CO)(cod)(dppm)] and [Ru(CO)2(cod)(dppm)], and with H2 to give a 1 : 4 mixture of trans- and cis-[RuH2(dppm)2]. The reaction of the dihydride with CHCl3 and HBF4 produces trans-[RuHCl(dppm)2] and trans-[RuH(dppm)2(H2)O]BF4, respectively. [RuH2(PPh3)4] reacts with dppm to give the mononuclear complex, [RuH2(dppm)(PPh3)2]. The structures of the different complexes were determined mainly using 1H and 31P n.m.r. spectroscopy.