Crystal structure of a dinuclear ruthenium(II) complex with a bent CO₂^2- bridge

The mol-ecular and crystal structures of a CO₂^2--bridged dinuclear ruthenium complex is reported, namely, μ-carbonito-κ²C:O-bis-[bis(2,2'-bi-pyridine-κ²N,N')carbon-ylruthenium(II)] bis-(hexa-fluorido-phosphate)-aceto-nitrile-diethyl ether (1/1/0.5), [Ru₂(CO)₂(C₁₀H₈N₂)₄(μ:κ²-C:O-CO₂)](PF₆)₂·CH₃CN·0.5C₄H₁₀O. The complex cation in the title compound consists of two {Ru(CO)(bpy)₂}²⁺ units (bpy = 2,2'-bi-pyridine) singly bridged by a μ:κ²-C:O carbonite anion, resulting in an unsymmetrical dinuclear structure. Some of the inter-atomic C⋯O distances involving the carbonyl ligands are shorter than the sum of the van der Waals radii. There are intra-molecular C-H⋯O and aromatic π-π contacts in the cationic complex. In the crystal, the cations are linked by pairs of C-H⋯F hydrogen bonds in addition to weak C-H⋯F inter-actions between the solvent mol-ecules and PF₆^- counter-anions. The equatorial F atoms of one of the PF₆^- anions are disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.908 (7):0.092 (7) while the central O atom of the diethyl ether solvent mol-ecule is disordered over an inversion centre.