Syntheses and characterization of indenylruthenium(II) complexes containing N,N ′ donor Schiff base ligands. Molecular structures of [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)2(CH3CN)]BF4 and [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)(C5H4–N-2–CHN–C6H4-p-CH3)]BF4

Reaction of the complex [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)2Cl] (1) with acetonitrile in the presence of NH4BF4 leads to formation of the complex [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)2(CH3CN)]BF4 (2). The complex (2) undergoes reactions with a series of N,N ′ donor Schiff bases, viz., para-substituted N-(pyrid-2-ylmethylene)-phenylamines (ppa) in methanol yielding indenyl ruthenium(II) Schiff base complexes of formulation [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)(C5H4N-2–CHN–C6H4-p-X)]BF4 (3a–3e), where C9H7=indenyl, X=H (3a), Me (3b), OMe (3c), NO2 (3d), and Cl (3e), respectively. These complexes were fully characterized on the basis of elemental analyses and NMR spectroscopy. The molecular structures of the starting complex [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)2(CH3CN)]BF4 (2) and a representative complex [(η 5-C9H7)Ru(PPh3)(C5H4N–CHN–C6H4-p-CH3)]BF4 (3b) have been established by X-ray diffraction study.