Coordinating Tectons: Bipyridyl-Terminated Group 8 Alkynyl Complexes

The pendant bipyridyl moiety of transition metal σ-acetylide complexes incorporating the 5-ethynyl-2,2′-bipyridine moiety provides a site of chelation for additional metal centers and facile access to multinuclear complexes as model systems for organometallic “molecular wires”. The mononuclear complexes [CpRu(CO)2(C2bpy)] (Cp = C5H5, C5Me5) and [RuCl(P∩P)2(C2bpy)] (P∩P = dppm, dppe) have been synthesized and characterized through spectroscopic means, providing context for the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of the heterometallic coordination complex [RuCl(dppe)2(C2bpy-κ2-N,N′-PdCl2)]. A number of the complexes were further characterized by solid-state X-ray structural determinations. These studies were extended to other metal ligand systems, and the structures of the tris-bidentate ruthenium(II) complex [Ru(bpy)2(5-ethynyl-2,2′-bipyridine)](PF6)2 and gold(I) σ-alkynyl complexes [(PR3)Au(C2bpy)] (PR3 = PEt3, PPh3) are reported.