WILL[AMS. Can. J. Chem. 62, 755 (1984). The ruthenium(l1) porphyrin complex R U ( O E P ) ( P P~~)~ (OEP = the dianion of octaethylporphyrin) has been prepared from Ru(OEP)(CO)EtOH, and the X-ray crystal structure determined; as expected, the six-coordinate ruthenium is situated in the porphyrin plane and has two axial phosphine ligands. Synthesized also from the carbonyl(ethano1) precursors were the corresponding tris(p-methoxypheny1)phosphine complex. and the Ru(TPP)L, (TPP = the dianion of tetraphenylporphyrin, L = PPh,, P(p-CH30C6H,),, PnBu3) and Ru(TPP)(CO)PPh3 complexes. Optical and 'H nmr data are presented for the complexes in solution. In some cases dissociation of a phosphine ligand to generate five-coordinate species occurs and this has been studied quantitatively in toluene at 20°C for the Ru(OEP)L2 and Ru(TPP)L2 systems. ~ Introduction Our continuing interest in, and development of, ruthenium porphyrin chemistry (1) led us to discover that ruthenium(I1) porphyrins containing tertiary phosphines as axial ligands were efficient catalysts for the decarbonylation of aldehydes (2), as well as for oxidation of substrates such as phosphines and sulfides by molecular oxygen through generation of hydrogen peroxide (3). The complexes also undergo two successive oneelectron electrochemical oxidations to yield first a ruthenium(11I) bisphosphine cation and then a ruthenium(II1) r-cation radical (4).We report here the details of the preparation and characterization of some of the ruthenium porphyrin -tertiary phosphine complexes, including the X-ray structure of RU(OEP)(PP~~),.? The dissociative equilibrium involving the loss of a phosphine ligand from the Ru(porp)L,, L = PPh,, P(p-CH30C6H4)3, complexes in toluene solution is also considered. Other groups ( 5 , 6) have described the synthesis of Ru-(TPP)(PPh,),, but the reported solution optical spectral data did not make allowance for the dissociation of phosphine.