LINKED TRIOSMIUM CLUSTER COMPLEXES CONTAINING THIOLATO-CARBOXYLATO LIGANDS - THE CRYSTAL AND MOLECULAR-STRUCTURES OF [(OS3H(CO)(10))(2)(MU-SC6H4CO2)] AND [(OS3H(CO)(10))(2)(MU-SCH2CH2CO2)]

The triosmium cluster, [Os-3(CO)(10)(CH3CN)(2)], reacts with the difun ctional thiolate-carboxylate ligands, 2-mercaptobenzoic acid (H(2)L(1) ), 3-mercaptopropanoic acid (H(2)L(2)) and 2,6-dicarboxypyridine (H(2) L(3)), to form the linked clusters, [{Os3H(CO)(10)}(2)(mu-L)] (L = L(1 ), L(2) and L(3)). The clusters have been fully characterised by spect roscopic means and the structures of two of them, [{Os3H(CO)(10)}(2)(m u-L)](L = L(1) and L(2)), established by single crystal X-ray analyses . In both cases the osmiums form two triangles, with the carboxylate b ridging one edge of one triangle and the sulphur that of a second.