The reaction of [Ru
3(CO)
12] with malonic acidor oxalic acid, followed by the addition of PMe
3, yielded{[Ru
2(CO)
4(PMe
3)
2](
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-O
2CCH
2CO
2)}
2 (
1) and {[Ru
2(CO)
4(PMe
3)
2](
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-O
2CCO
2)}
4 (
2), respectively. The molecularstructures of both
1 and
2 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction to reveal that
1 is a molecularloop, while
2 is the first example of molecular squarescontaining {Ru
2(CO)
4(PR
3)
2} building blocks.