We recently described a terminal phosphido complex of ruthenium containing a Ru = PR 2 p bond, and demonstrated its high activity in 1,2-addition reactions of polar and nonpolar substrates. [1] Herein we report the [2+2] cycloaddition reactions of this planar phosphido complex with both activated and simple alkenes to yield metallaphosphacyclobutanes, and we provide evidence for a concerted cycloaddition pathway in these P À C bond-forming reactions (Scheme 1 a). Metal-mediated PÀC bond-forming reactions represent a direct and potentially stereoselective route to useful ligands or reagents, [2] but the development and understanding of metal-catalyzed phosphination and hydrophosphination by primary or secondary phosphines lags behind that of the corresponding amination chemistry. [3] Among late-metal examples of such catalysis, the critical P À C bond-forming step has been attributed either to nucleophilic attack of free phosphine onto an unsaturated substrate that has been activated through binding with the metal (e.g. Scheme 1 b), [4] or to attack of the strongly nucleophilic P of a phosphido intermediate (M À PR 2 ) onto a substrate containing an electrophilic carbon atom (e.g. Scheme 1 c). [5] Lanthanideor calcium-catalyzed hydrophosphination of alkynes and alkenes, [6][7][8] which involve the insertion of an unsaturated substrate into the metal-phosphorus bond of a phosphido intermediate (Scheme 1 d), include the only examples of metal-mediated hydrophosphination of simple alkenes. [7b, 8] Our results point to an alternative mechanism for hydrophosphination catalyzed by late-metals that will allow the incorporation of a much wider range of alkene substrates (electron rich and electron deficient) than are currently viable in this transition metal mediated process. [9] The five-coordinate half-sandwich complex [Ru(h 5indenyl)(PR 2 )(PPh 3 )] (1 a,b) reacts rapidly with acrylonitrile to give two isomers of the metallacyclic product 2 a,b, in which the nitrile group on the ruthenium-bound a-carbon atom is oriented either syn or anti with respect to the Ru-indenyl bond (Scheme 2). In solution, these complexes show diagnostic upfield 31 P{ 1 H} NMR signals due to the phosphorus atom in the metallacycle (e.g., syn-2 a: d = À13.3 ppm), and upfield 13 C{ 1 H} NMR signals for the a-carbon atom attached to Ru (e.g., syn-2 a: d = À28.3 ppm). 13 C{ 1 H}DEPT-135 NMR analysis of a mixture of syn-and anti-2 a confirmed their identical regiochemistry, showing that the a-carbon atom in both isomers (d = À29.1 ppm in 13 C NMR spectrum for anti-2 a) contains one proton and not two. Unequivocal assignment of the stereochemistry of syn-2 b was obtained from solution NMR studies of a purified sample, which allowed identification of the signal resulting from the lone proton on the a-carbon atom, and showed its proximity to the PPh 3 aryl protons.[10] X-ray crystallography confirmed the analogous syn structure of the major isomer of 2 a in the solid state ( Figure 1). [11] We detected no trace of the other regioisomers Scheme 1. ...