Though the Collmans reagent [Fe(CO) 4 ] 2À is probably one of the most popular and useful reagents in organic synthesis, [1] our knowledge of dianionic Group 8 metal complexes still remains limited. In addition to the carbonyl ruthenium analogue [Ru(CO) 4 ] 2À , only a few other complexes are known: the complete series of PF 3 derivatives [M(PF 3 ) 4 ] 2À (M Fe, Ru, Os), [2] the isocyanide complexes [Ru(CNR) 4 ] 2À synthesized by Cooper and co-workers, [3] and the amazing Jonas iron complexes [Fe(C 2 H 4 ) 4 ] 2À and [Fe(cod) 2 ] 2À (cod cycloocta-1,5-diene). [4] We have begun to explore the use of sophisticated phosphinine-based ligands in an effort to design phosphorus equivalents of carbonyl ligands. [5] This we recently illustrated by the successful stabilization of an Au 0 center encapsulated in a silacalix-[4]-phosphinine macrocycle [6] and the synthesis of dianionic 2,2'-biphosphinine complexes of Group 4 [7] and 9 metals. [8] Herein we report the successful stabilization of dianionic Fe and Ru 2,2'-biphosphinine complexes.All our syntheses were carried out using dianion 2 which is readily obtained by reduction of 2,2'-biphosphinine 1 (tmbp) using lithium in excess. [9] Reaction of two equivalents of 2 with one equivalent of [{FeCl 2 (thf) 1.5 } n ] or [Ru(cod)(acac) 2 ] (acac 2,4-pentanedione, acetylacetone) in THF at low temperature, yielded complexes 3 an 4, respectively, which were isolated as highly moisture and oxygen sensitive powders (Scheme 1).The formulation of these two complexes was confirmed by NMR spectroscopic data ( 1 H and 13 C). To gain more structural information, an X-ray crystal structure analysis of complex 4 was carried out (Figure 1). [10] Remarkably, the overall geometry of 4 is not tetrahedral as usually observed for ML 4 d 10 complexes, [8] but square planar; [11] the iron complex 3 is assumed to have the same structure. The two biphosphinines are roughly located in the same plane (V 7.298, V being the interplane angle) and the two cationic [Li(thf) 3 ] units are located above and below the plane in apical positions. Though the structure roughly resembles an octahedron, the Ru´´´Li separation (2.740 (3) ) is long and exceeds the sum of the covalent radii (2.60 ) indicating only a very weak, mainly P P P P Li Li THF THF THF THF THF THF P P M P P 2 a b 2-+ + 3: M = Fe 4: M = Ru 1 2 Scheme 1. Syntheses of 3 and 4: a) Li (excess), THF, 25 8C, 2 h. b) [{FeCl 2 (thf) 1.5 } n ] or [Ru(cod)(acac) 2 ], THF À 80 8C 3RT.Figure 1. Molecular structure of 4. Thermal ellipsoids are set at the 50 % probability level. The hydrogen atoms are omitted for clarity. Important distances [] and angles [8]: Ru1-P1 2.