The reaction of the dichloro(vinylidene)ruthenium compounds [RuCl
2(=C=CHR)L
2] (R =Ph or
tBu and L = PCy
3 or P
iPr
3) (
1a-
d) with [H(OEt
2)
2]BAr
f (BAr
f- = [B{C
6H
3(CF
3)
2-3,5}
4]
-) resulted in the attack of the proton at the C
carbon atom of the vinylidene ligandand afforded the corresponding cationic, five-coordinate carbyneruthenium complexes [RuCl
2(
CCH
2R)L
2]BAr
f (
2a-
d) in almost quantitative yields. The protonation of the carboxylatoderivatives [RuCl(
2-O
2CR)(=C=CHPh)(P
iPr
3)
2] [R = H (
3a), CH
3 (
3b), or Ph (
3f)] with[H(OEt
2)
2]BAr
f led to the formation of the five-coordinate cyclic carbene complexes [RuCl{=C(CH
2Ph)OC(O)R}(P
iPr
3)
2]BAr
f [R = H (
6a), CH
3 (
6b), or Ph (
6f)], which are formed vianucleophilic attack of the carboxylato ligand to a cationic carbyneruthenium intermediate.The protonation of the related vinylidene compounds [RuCl(
2-O
2CR)(=C=CHPh)(P
iPr
3)
2][R = CH
2F (
3c), CHF
2 (
3d), CF
3 (
3e), C
6H
4NO
2-4 (
3g), C
6H
4NO
2-2 (
3h), C
6F
5 (
3i), and C
6H
3(NO
2)
2-2,4 (
3j)] with [H(OEt
2)
2]BAr
f gave an equilibrium mixture of the carbyne [RuCl(
2-O
2CR)(
CCH
2Ph)(P
iPr
3)
2]BAr
f (
5c-
e,
5g-
j) and the isomeric, cyclic carbene complexes[RuCl{=C(CH
2Ph)OC(O)R}(P
iPr
3)
2]BAr
f (
6c-
e,
6g-
j). The position of this equilibriumsignificantly depends on the basicity of the carboxylato ligand. The six-coordinate cycliccarbene complexes [Ru(
2-O
2CR
1){=C(CH
2Ph)OC(O)R
2}(P
iPr
3)
2]BAr
f [R
1 = R
2 = CHF
2 (
7a),CF
3 (
7b); R
1 = CF
3, R
2 = H (
7c)] were obtained on protonation of the precursors [Ru(
1-O
2CR
1)(
2-O
2CR
2)(=C=CHPh)(P
iPr
3)
2] (
4a-
c) with [H(OEt
2)
2]BAr
f. Both
7a and
7b undergoa fluxional process in solution resulting in a
1/
2 interconversion of the carboxylato groups.The crystal and molecular structures of
2b, 5e, and
6a were determined by X-raycrystallography.