Feel the pinch! Planar-chiral, cationic, ruthenium-palladium complexes based on eta(6),eta(1)-coordinated ECE' pincer ligands are synthesized as racemic mixtures by reacting ECE'-palladium complexes and [Ru(C(5)R(5))(MeCN)(3)](+) arenophiles (R=H or Me). Chiral resolution of the cationic complexes was achieved by using the chiral counterion [Delta-TRISPHAT](-), and solving the X-ray crystal structure of one diastereoisomer (shown here).