Reactions of Dihydrooctamethyl-s-indacene and 1,2,3,4,7-Pentamethylindene with Ru3(CO)12: Intramolecular sp3C−H Activation.

Thermal treatment of dihydrooctamethyl-s-indacene with Ru3(CO)12afforded the trinuclear and tetranuclear complexes Ru3(η5:η5:η2-C20H24)(CO)7(1) and Ru4(η5:η4:η1-C20H24)(μ-CO)2(CO)7(2), via intramolecular sp3C−H bond activation, and the mononuclear complex Ru(η5-C20H25)(CO)2Cl (3), which might be formed via chlorination of a terminal hydride complex during column chromatography. Reaction of 1,2,3,4,7-pentamethylindene with Ru3(CO)12also yielded the tetranuclear complex Ru4(η5:η3:η2-C14H16)(CO)9(4) via the same sp3C−H bond activation, together with the dinuclear complex [(η5-C9H2Me5)Ru(CO)]2(μ-CO)2(5). In contrast, reaction of 4,7-dimethylindene with Ru3(CO)12gave only the dinuclear complex [(η5-C9H5Me2)Ru(CO)]2(μ-CO)2(6). The molecular structures of all six complexes have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]