Carbonyl transition metal complexes of a silaborate ligand

Reaction between three equivalents of the silaborate [NEt4][MeSiB10H12] (2) and one equivalent of [RU3(CO)(12)] resulted in almost quantitative formation of the mononuclear transition metal complex [NEt4][Ru(CO)(3)(eta(5)-MeSiB10H10)] (5), which was characterized by X-ray structure analysis. The trinuclear ruthenium complex [NEt4][RU3(CO)(8)(eta(5)-MeSiB10H10)] (7) was synthesized in high yield from the reaction of one equivalent of 2 and [Ru-3(CO)(12)]. The cluster 7 reacts with two equivalents of PMe2Ph with substitution of two carbonyl groups to give the substitution product [NEt4][RU3(CO)(6)(PMe2Ph)(2)(eta(5)-MeSiB10H10)] (8).