Ruthenium complexes with the formulae Ru(CO) 2 (PR 3 ) 2 (O 2 CPh) 2 [6a-h;R = n-Bu, p-MeO-C 6 H 4 , p-Me-C 6 H 4 ,P h, p-Cl-C 6 H 4 , m-Cl-C 6 H 4 , p-CF 3 -C 6 H 4 , m,m'-(CF 3 ) 2 C 6 H 3 ]w ere prepared by treatment of triruthenium dodecacarbonyl [Ru 3 (CO) 12 ]w ith the respective phosphine and benzoic acid or by the conversion of Ru(CO) 3 (PR 3 ) 2 (8e-h)w ith benzoic acid. During the preparation of 8,r uthenium hydride complexes of type Ru(CO)(PR 3 ) 3 (H) 2 (9g, h)c ould be isolated as side products. Them olecular structures of the newly synthesizedc omplexes in the solid state are discussed. Compounds 6a-h were found to be highly effective catalysts in the addition of carboxylic acids to propargylic alcohols to give valuable b-oxo esters.T he catalyst screening revealed ac onsiderably influence of the phosphine'se lectronicn ature on the resulting activities. Theb est performances were obtained with complexes 6g and 6h,f eaturing electron-withdrawing phosphine ligands.A dditionally,c atalyst 6g is very active in the conversion of sterically demanding substrates,l eading to ab road substrate scope.T he catalytic preparation of simple as wella sc hallenging substrates succeeds with catalyst 6g in yields that often exceed those of established literature systems.F urthermore,t he reactions can be carriedo ut with catalyst loadings down to 0.1 mol% andr eactiont emperatures down to 50 8 8C.