Recent advances in the chemistry of ruthenium carbido complexes

Ruthenium has an extensive coordination chemistry with carbido ligands, forming diverse array of structures ranging from low-coordinate carbido complexes with Ru–C multiple bonds to high-nuclearity clusters with interstitial carbon atoms. These complexes have a close relationship to ruthenium carbene and carbyne complexes and have relevance to important catalytic processes such as the Fischer–Tropsch reaction and olefin metathesis. Ruthenium carbido clusters are versatile building blocks for high-nuclearity mixed-metal clusters of interesting structures and applications. This review aims to give an overview of recent progress in ruthenium carbido coordination chemistry with detailed coverage of the literature from 2000 to 2010.

► Progress of ruthenium carbido coordination chemistry in 2000–2010.
► Low-coordinate carbido derivatives with Ru–C multiple bonds.
► High-nuclearity clusters with interstitial carbido ligands.
► Relationship to ruthenium carbene and carbyne complexes.
► Relevance to olefin metathesis and Fischer–Tropsch reaction.