RUTHENIUM AND OSMIUM ACYL FLUORIDE COMPLEXES - CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE OF [OC-6-13][RUF2(CO)(2)(PPH(3))]CENTER-DOT-CD2CL(2)

Fluoroacyl complexes of ruthenium and osmium have been identified in t he oxidative addition of XeF2 to [M(CO)(3)(PPh(3))(2)] (M = Ru or Os) in dichloromethane. The mechanism of reaction, probed by the addition of BF3, involves oxidation of the metal centre by XeF+ followed by nuc leophilic attack by F- at co-ordinated CO. For M = Ru, the fluoroacyl complex is unstable at room temperature and decomposes via elimination of CO to [OC-6-13][RUF(2)(CO)(2)(PPh(3))(2)] for which the ligand arr angement has been confirmed by X-ray crystallography. For M = Os, the analogous complex is obtained by heating the fluoroacyl species in sol ution for several hours. All the products have been characterised by I R, F-19 and P-31 NMR spectroscopies.