A series of diruthenium phosphine carbonyl complexescontaining bridging nitro and nitrato groups,[Ru
2(CO)
4(
-NO
2)
2L
2](
1-
4) and[Ru
2(CO)
4(
-NO
3)
2L
2](
5-
9), were cleanly prepared from the reactionsof [Ru
2(CO)
4(NCMe)
4L
2][BF
4]
2(L = PPh
3, PPh
2(allyl),PPh
2Me, PPhMe
2, or PMe
3) withexcess NaNO
2 or NaNO
3 in MeOH.Complexes
1-
4 are present in two isomericforms,
A and
B, with a head-to-head orientationof two bridging
2-(
N,
O)-NO
2 groups forform
A and a head-to-tail arrangement of the groups for form
B, in an approximate 3:1ratio, but complexes
5-
9 are present in onlyone isomeric form with an
2-(
O,
O)-NO
3attachment. Crystal data:
1A,
a = 12.452(2) Å,
b =23.520(3) Å,
c = 13.441(2) Å,
=98.280(1)
, monoclinic
P2
1/
n,
Z = 4;
5,
a =11.737(3) Å,
b = 23.496(5) Å,
c =14.629(3) Å,
= 100.34(2)
, monoclinic
P2
1/
n,
Z = 4. Thefive-memberedmetallacycle {Ru
2(ONO)} in
5-
9 is more reactive than the four-memberedmetallacycle {Ru
2(NO)} in
1-
4,reflected by the different reactivity of[Ru
2(CO)
4(
-NO
2)
2(PPh
3)
2](
1) and[Ru
2(CO)
4(
-NO
3)
2(PPh
3)
2](
5) withvarious reagents to give[Ru
2(CO)
4(
-I)
2(PPh
3)
2](
10),[Ru
2(CO)
4(
-N
3)
2(PPh
3)
2](
11), and[Ru
2(CO)
4(
1-NO
3)
2(
-X)
2(PPh
3)
2] (X = Br(
12), I (
13)). Crystal data of
13:
a = 31.394(3) Å,
b =9.761(1) Å,
c = 18.200(2) Å,
= 118.420(1)
, monoclinic
C2/
c,
Z = 4. The intermolecular oxygen transfer from theligated NO
2 groups in
1 to exogenous PMe
3 is readily observed in MeCNat ambient temperature, apparently forming nitrosyl groupsand free OPMe
3.