Ring-opening reactions of thiomorpholine and thiazolidine by [Ru-3(CO)(12)]: crystal structures of [Ru-3(mu-H)(mu-eta(2)-SCH2CH2NH2)(CO)(9)] and [Ru-2(mu-eta(3)-SCH2CH2NHCH2)(CO)(6)]

The reaction of thiomorpholine (C4H9NS) with [Ru-3(CO)(12)] at 68 degrees C afforded [Ru-3(mu-H)(mu-eta(2)-SCH2CH2NH2)(CO)(9)] 5 in 25% yield. An X-ra y structure determination of 5 showed that it consists of a closed triruthe nium cluster with a mu-eta(2)-SCH2CH2NH2 ligand formed by the ring-opening cleavage of thiomorpholine with elimination of a C-2 fragment. In contrast the analogous reaction of thiazolidine (C3H7NS) with [Ru-3(CO)(12)] yielded the dinuclear compound [Ru-2(mu-eta(3)-SCH2CH2NHCH3)(CO)(6)] 6 (28%), whic h was found to contain a mu-eta(3)-SCH2CH2NHCH2 ligand formed by the ring-o pening cleavage of the C-S bond of the thiazolide ligand. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.