. Can. J. Chem. 69,590 (1991). The desulfurization of benzo [b]thiophene 1 with aqueous transition metal species in the presence of various hydrocarbons at elevated temperatures is described. Mechanistic studies have shown that treatment of 1 with solutions of RuC13 and other platinum metal species results in the formation of 2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]thiophene 2 and ethylbenzene 3 as major products. Metal coordinated species are probable intermediates in the formation of 2 and hydrocarbon products. 2 readily coordinates to PdCI2 to form square-planar trans-dichlorobis(2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]thiophee) palladium(II), which decomposes to ethylbenzene at 300°C. The crystal structure of the complex was determined by a single crystal X-ray diffraction study. The complex crystallized in the monocliriic space group C 2 / c with Z = 8 in a cell of dimensions a = 23.057 (3), b = 9.71 1 (1), c = 15.227 (2) A and p = 99.74(1)". The structure was solved by the Fourier method and was refined by full-matrix least-squares calculations to R = 0.042 for 2537 observed data with I > 2.5u(I).