Kinetic
profiles obtained from monitoring the solution phase substitution chemistry of
[Ru(η<sup>5</sup>-indenyl)(NCPh)(PPh<sub>3</sub>)<sub>2</sub>]<sup>+</sup> (<b>1</b>) by both ESI-MS and <sup>31</sup>P{<sup>1</sup>H}
NMR are essentially identical, despite an enormous difference in sample
concentrations for these complementary techniques. These studies demonstrate
dissociative substitution of the NCPh ligand in <b>1</b>. Competition experiments using different secondary phosphine
reagents provide a ranking of phosphine donor abilities at this relatively
crowded half-sandwich complex: PEt<sub>2</sub>H > PPh<sub>2</sub>H >>
PCy<sub>2</sub>H. The impact of steric congestion at Ru is evident also in
reactions of <b>1</b> with tertiary
phosphines; initial substitution products [Ru(η<sup>5</sup>-indenyl)(PR<sub>3</sub>)(PPh<sub>3</sub>)<sub>2</sub>]<sup>+</sup>
rapidly lose PPh<sub>3</sub>, enabling competitive recoordination of NCPh.
Further solution experiments, relevant to the use of <b>1</b> in catalytic hydrophosphination, show that PPh<sub>2</sub>H
out-competes PPh<sub>2</sub>CH<sub>2</sub>CH<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>2</sub>Bu<i><sup>t</sup></i> (the product of
hydrophosphination of <i>tert</i>-butyl
acrylate by PPh<sub>2</sub>H) for coordination to Ru, even in the presence of a
ten-fold excess of the tertiary phosphine. Additional information on relative phosphine binding strengths was
obtained from gas-phase MS/MS experiments, including collision-induced
dissociation (CID) experiments on the mixed phosphine complexes [Ru(η<sup>5</sup>-indenyl)PP’P’’]<sup>+</sup>,
which ultimately appear in solution during the secondary phosphine competition
experiments. Unexpectedly, unsaturated complexes [Ru(η<sup>5</sup>-indenyl)(PR<sub>2</sub>H)(PPh<sub>3</sub>)]<sup>+</sup>,
generated in the gas-phase, undergo preferential loss of PR<sub>2</sub>H. We
propose competing orthometallation of PPh<sub>3</sub> is responsible for the
surprising stability of the [Ru(η<sup>5</sup>-indenyl)(PPh<sub>3</sub>)]<sup>+</sup>
fragment under these conditions.