Simultaneous retention of SMM behaviour and of optical activity is demonstrated upon surface deposition for a chiral SMM.

We report the first examples of the carbide ligand in (Cy3P)2Cl2RuC (RuC) developing into a μ3 ligand toward metal centers. Conventionally, sterics exclude this coordination mode, but Fe2(CO)9 and Co2(CO)8 expel bridging CO ligands upon reaction with RuC to form trimetallic (Cy3P)2Cl2RuCFe2(CO)8 (RuCFe 2 ) and (Cy3P)2Cl2RuCCo2(CO)7 (RuCCo 2 ) complexes. Thus, the proximity offered by metal–metal associations in bimetallic carbonyl complexes allows the formation of trinuclear carbide complexes as verified by NMR, Mössbauer, and X-ray spectroscopic techniques.