According to the skeletal electron pair theory, Os(CO), groups donate two electrons for cluster bonding, and Os-(CO), groups donate zero.% With the assumption that t h e sulfido ligand serves as a four-electron donor, compound I1 has 14 electrons or seven electron pairs for cluster bonding. Seven electron pairs will provide a filled set of bonding orbitals for a polyhedron with six vertices, t h e octahedron. Accordingly the five metal atoms Os(l), Os(2), Os(4), Os(6), Os(7) and the sulfide ligand adopt the shape of an octahedron.T h e mechanism of t h e formation of I1 from I plus I11 is difficult to predict. Overall, there is a loss of five ligands, two of acetonitrile and three carbonyls, and an increase by five in the number of metal-metal bonds. T h e sulfido ligand actually serves as a four electron donor both in I and 11. T h e initial link between I and I11 is probably via formation of a coordinate bond between the sulfido ligand in I and a metal atom in I11 upon displacement of one of t h e acetonitrile molecules. Cluster coupling via the formation of sulfur-metal donor bonds has been observed previously"J2 and most notably in t h e formation of the cyclotrimer [ (p-H)zRu3(CO)s(p4-S)]3.14 One of t h e sulfido-bridged metal-metal bonds in I is then opened, and the sulfur-coordinated osmium atom in I11 enters into metal-metal bonding with I. It is not now possible to predict the sequence of the remaining steps which leads t o 11. Acknowledgment. We wish t o thank the National Science Foundation for support of this research through Grant No. CHE 80-19041 and t h e Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for a fellowship t o R.D.A. Registry No. I,