Ligand-based control of nuclearity in (NHC)gold() sulfides

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry Vol. 5; no. 43; pp. 15721 - 15729
• Main Authors: Sato, Christopher M, Walde, Rebecca K, Bacsa, John, Jordan, Abraham J, Sadighi, Joseph P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 09.11.2021
• Subjects: Cations; Dimers; Gold; Ligands
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/d1dt02616j

N-Heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands support gold( i ) sulfide complexes of varying nuclearity and charge. For sterically undemanding ligands, gold( i ) chlorides react with sulfide to form trigold μ 3 -sulfido cations as the first observed products. The ligand IMes [1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene] supports a monomeric cation, whereas the ICy-(1,3-dicyclohexylimidazol-2-ylidene-) supported cation crystallises as a dimer linked through an aurophilic interaction. The more sterically demanding IDipp [1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene] supports a terminal hydrosulfide, a (μ-hydrosulfido)digold cation, and a μ 3 -sulfido cation. Use of the expanded-ring NHC 7Dipp [1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,3-diazepin-2-ylidene] allows the isolation of a neutral digold sulfide. N-Heterocyclic carbene ligands allow selective synthesis of terminal or bridging hydrosulfides, and doubly or triply bridging sulfides, depending on sterics.