Dc. Mudalige et al., SYNTHESIS AND X-RAY STRUCTURE OF AN H2S COMPLEX, RUCL2(P-N)(P(P-TOLYL)(3))(SH2) (P-N=O-(DIPHENYLPHOSPHINO)-N,N-DIMETHYLANILINE), Inorganic chemistry, 36(24), 1997, pp. 5426
The interaction of transition metal complexes with H2S continues to at
tract attention. Such chemistry is of relevance in the biological sulf
ur cycle, in the formation of ores, in hydrodesulfurization catalysis,
and in the use of H2S as a source of Hz and elemental sulfur (or orga
nosulfur compounds). Literature dealing with these topics is plentiful
and can be traced through recent references.(1,2) However, isolation
and characterization of metal complexes containing H2S remain challeng
ing,(2,3) as such species tend to undergo oxidative addition reactions
to give products with SH ligands or bridged or terminal sulfide,(4) a
nd only recently has an H2S complex been characterized crystallographi
cally.(2) This was the structure reported by Sellmann et al. of the Ru
(II)-complex Ru(SH2)(PPh3)('S-4'). THF ('S-4' = 1,2-bis[(2-mercaptophe
nyl)thio]ethane(2-)) formed by the reaction of the polymeric complex [
Ru(PPh3)('S-4')](x) with liquid H2S at -70 degrees C; the reaction wit
h H2S gas at room temperature in THF resulted in a mixture of the brid
ging sulfide complex [(mu-S-2){Ru(PPh3)('S-4')}(2)] and other uncharac
terized products depicting the more typical reactivity of H2S with tra
nsition metal complexes.(2)