The truly symmetrical doubly-bridging mode of trimethylphosphine in a dinuclear rhodium complex.

The dinuclear complex [Rh2I2(mu-CPh2)2(mu-PMe3)] was prepared from the Rh2(acac)2 counterpart and Me3SiI and shown crystallographically to contain the PMe3 ligand in a truly symmetrical bridging position; a new synthetic route to migrate more bulky phosphines such as PPh3 and PiPr3 from a terminal into a bridging site is also described.