The reaction of [Ru-3(CO)(12)] with bis(diphenylphosphino)amine (dppa) in the presence of sodium benzophenone leads to [Ru-3(CO)(10)(dppa)] in quantitative yield, while the same reaction carried out in refluxing toluene also produces the disubstituted product [Ru-3(CO)(8)(dppa)(2)]. Both products were characterized spectroscopically and by X-ray crystallography. The five-membered rings, formed by the coordinated ligand and the two metal atoms, show distorted envelope conformations. There are significant differences in the P-N bond lengths of each dppa ligand in the disubstituted cluster while they are totally symmetric in the monosubstituted derivative. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.