Triruthenium and triosmium carbonyl clusters containing chiral bidentate NHC-thiolate ligands derived from levamisole

Abstract

The trinuclear complexes [M₃(µ-Cl)(µ-S∼CH)(CO)₉] (M = Ru, Os; S∼CH = 1-ethylenethiolate-3-H-4-(S)-phenylimidazolin-2-ylidene) and [M₃(µ-H)(µ-S∼CMe)(CO)₉] (M = Ru, Os; S∼CMe = 1-ethylenethiolate-3-methyl-4-(S)-phenylimidazolin-2-ylidene) have been prepared by treating [Ru₃(CO)₁₂] and [Os₃(CO)₁₀(MeCN)₂] with levamisolium chloride or [M₃(µ-H)(CO)₁₁]⁻ with methyl levamisolium triflate, respectively. The chiral N-heterocyclic carbene-thiolate ligands S∼CH and S∼CMe arise from the oxidative addition of the C–S bond of levamisolium or methyl levamisolium cations to anionic trinuclear clusters.