The reaction between the biologically active acids probenecid (HO2CC12H18NO2S), indomethacin (HO2CC18H15ClNO2) and sulindac (HO2CC19H16FOS) with Ru-3(CO)(12), followed by addition of axial ligands (L), such as pyridine, triphenylphosphine, or 5-(4-pyridyl)-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin, generates a series of stable diruthenium tetracarbonyl complexes of the formula Ru-2(CO)(4)(mu(2)-eta(2)-O2CC12H18NO2S)(2)L-2, Ru-2(CO)(4)(mu(2)-eta(2)-O2CC18H15ClNO2)(2)L-2 and Ru-2(CO)(4)(mu(2)-eta(2)-O2CC19H16FOS)(2)L-2, respectively. The molecular structure of 1a center dot C6H6 was solved by single-crystal X-ray structure analysis and a typical diruthenium tetracarbonyl backbone bridged by the carboxylato ligands and two axial triphenylphosphine ligands was revealed. The benzene molecule sits between two probenecid units, and is involved in pi-stacking interactions with the aromatic part of probenecid. Despite the presence of biologically relevant derivatives and carbonyl groups within the sawhorse-type dinuclear complexes, all systems show no cytotoxicity towards human cancer cells, presumably due to the high lipophilicity of these neutral complexes. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.