Facile fabrication of ruthenium(IV) oxide nanostructures by thermal decomposition of two new organoruthenium(II) complexes

•Two new monofunctional ruthenium(II) arene complexes have been investigated.•The X-ray crystal structures of both organoruthenium(II) complexes are reported.•Both two complexes have “piano stool” geometries.•Calcination of the compounds 1 and 2 at 400 °C yields RuO2 nanoparticles.

Two new monofunctional ruthenium(II) arene complexes of the type [(η6-arene)Ru(ethylenediamine)(X)]n+ where arene is substituted benzene (p-cymene), and X are halide (Br and Cl), [(η6-p-cymene)Ru(en)Br]Br (1) and [(η6-p-cymene)Ru(en)Cl]PF6 (2), have been investigated. The X-ray crystal structures of both organoruthenium(II) complexes are reported. Both two complexes have “piano stool” geometries with η6 coordination of the arene ligand. RuO2 nanoparticles were simply synthesized by solid-state transformation of compounds 1 and 2 at 400 °C under air atmosphere. The results show that the size and morphology of the RuO2 nanoparticles are dependent upon the starting organometallic ruthenium(II) complexes.

Graphical abstractTwo new ruthenium(II) arene complexes of the type [(η6-arene)Ru(ethylenediamine)(X)]n+ where arene is substituted benzene (p-cymene), and X are halide (Br and Cl), [(η6-p-cymene)Ru(en)Br]Br (1) and [(η6-p-cymene)Ru(en)Cl]PF6 (2), have been investigated. The X-ray crystal structures of both organoruthenium(II) complexes are reported. RuO2 nanoparticles were simply synthesized by solid-state transformation of compounds 1 and 2 at 400 °C under air atmosphere.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide