A new, versatile, one-step route to bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm) metal carbonyl complexes involving NaBH 4 reduction of a metal salt/dppm mixture under CO has been developed. The reaction outcome is determined by careful control of the conditions. With Co II , the complexes [Co(η 2 -dppm) 2 (CO)][Co(CO) 4 ], Co 2 (μ-dppm) 2 (CO) 4 , Co 2 (µ-dppm) 2 (µ-CO) 2 (CO) 2 , and Co 2 (μ-dppm) 2 (μ-Η)(μ-ΡΡh 2 )(CO) 2 can all be obtained as the major product. CoBH 2 (η 1 -dppm)(η 2 -dppm)(CO) 2 , the first stable metallaborane, is a minor product and other η 1 -and η 2 -dppm-Co-CO complexes can also be prepared. With Ni II , Ni(η 1 -dppm) 2 (CO) 2 , Νi 2 (μ-ddpm) 2 (μ-CO)(CO) 2 and [Ni 2 (μ-dppm) 2 (μ-PPh 2 )(CO) 2 ]X can all be prepared as major products. The heterobinuclear CoRh(µ-dppm) 2 (CO) 3 is similarly prepared from Co II /Rh III /dppm/BH 4 -/CO reactions and related (e.g., Co-Mn, Ni-Cu) complexes can be prepared by twostep processes. Pd IV gives at least five Pd-dppm-CO complexes.Bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm) is a versatile ligand in coordination chemistry since it can act as a mono-coordinating, bridging or chelating species with metals. The small bite angle of dppm does not favor chelation and the majority of such complexes reported to date contain mono-coordinating or, more usually, bridging dppm. Indeed, the importance of bridging dppm in the stabilization of homo-and heterobinuclear (and cluster) complexes has received increasing recognition recently (1-4). Binuclear and small cluster complexes are of considerable interest because many reactions which take place with these systems, particularly those which contain metal-metal bonds and/or coordinatively unsaturated metal centers, are analogous (4) to those which take place on metal surfaces in the context of heterogeneous catalysis. Also in the context of catalysis, many metal phosphine, metal carbonyl, and metal carbonyl phosphine complexes are active catalysts for a variety of homogeneous processes (5). Metal carbonyl phosphine complexes are most often prepared by reaction of a metal carbonyl and a phosphine or, less commonly, by treatment of a metal phosphine complex with 0097-6156/ 92/ 0486-0173S06. 00/ 0