An Alternate Route to Disulfanido Complexes by Nucleophilic Attack of Thiolates on Ruthenium-Bound Thiosulfonato Ligands

The reaction of the thiosulfonato complexes [(p-cym)Ru(bipy)(S-SO2R)]+ (R = Ph, p-Tol) with the thiolates R′S− (R′ = alkyl or aryl) leads to S−S bond cleavage and to the quantitative formation of the corresponding disulfanido derivatives [(p-cym)Ru(bipy)(S-SR′)]+. The aryldisulfanido complexes also react with benzyl thiolate by S−S bond cleavage to give [(p-cym)Ru(bipy)(SSCH2Ph)]+.