2,2′-commo-Bis[2-ruthena-nido-1-(η⁵-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)ruthenahexaborane(12)]: An Unusual Ruthenaborane Related to Ruthenocene and Exhibiting a Linear Triruthenium Fragment

An isomer of a sandwich complex, compound 1 has been prepared from nido-[1,2-{Cp*Ru}₂B₃H₉] and structurally characterized. Owing to the connection of the two dimetallahexaborane cages, the three metals form a linear array. The environment of the unique central Ru atom is different from that normally found in metallaboranes. The isolation of 1 suggests the accessibility of variants of multidecker sandwich complexes with linear chains of metal atoms.