Asymmetrical A-Frame Triplatinum Clusters Bridged by Small Organic Molecules and Bis((diphenylphosphino)methyl)phenylphosphine.

Reactions of the linear triplatinum complex [Pt(3)(&mgr;-dpmp)(2)(XylNC)(2)](2+) (3) with small organic molecules led to formation of asymmetrical A-frame triplatinum complexes with an additional bridge across one of the metal-metal bonds, where dpmp is bis((diphenylphosphino)methyl)phenylphosphine. Reaction of complex 3 with electron deficient alkynes (R(1)C&tbd1;CR(2): R(1) = R(2) = CO(2)Me; R(1) = H, R(2) = CO(2)Me; R(1) = R(2) = CO(2)Et) afforded a new series of triplatinum clusters formulated as [Pt(3)(&mgr;-dpmp)(2)(&mgr;-R(1)CCR(2))(XylNC)(2)](PF(6))(2) (5a, R(1) = R(2) = CO(2)Me; 5b, R(1) = H, R(2) = CO(2)Me; 5c, R(1) = R(2) = CO(2)Et) in good yields. The complex cation of 5b was characterized by X-ray crystallography to have an asymmetrical A-frame structure comprising three Pt atoms bridged by two dpmp ligands, in which an acetylene molecule was inserted into one of the Pt-Pt bonds (triclinic, P&onemacr;, a = 19.