Mononuclear, dinuclear, and hexanuclear gold(I) complexes with (aza-15-crown-5)dithiocarbamate

The reactions of sodium (aza-15-crown-5)dithiocarbamate with [AuCIL] precursors lead to mono-, di-, or hexanuclear derivatives depending on L. The homoleptic hexanuclear gold(I) cluster [Au-6(S2CNC10H20O4)(6)] is formed by displacement of the chloride and isocyanide ligands in [AuCl(CN(2,6-Me2C6H3))]. X-ray diffraction studies show a novel geometry in gold cluster chemistry where the six gold atoms display a cyclohexane-like geometry in a chair conformation with Au-Au-Au angles of 117.028(9)degrees, two short gold-gold distances of 2.9289(5) angstrom, and bidentate bridging dithiocarbamate ligands. The molecular structure shows a crown of gold atoms surrounded by crown ethers. This derivative luminesces at 569 nm at room temperature in the solid state. A dinuclear isomer [AU(2)(S2CNC10H20O4)(2)] had been reported previously and was obtained by reaction with [AuCl(SMe2)]. The mechanism to obtain the hexanuclear derivative involves a mononuclear intermediate [Au(S2CNC10H20O4)(CNR)] for which the X-ray structure shows a short gold-gold distance of 3.565 angstrom with the two molecules in an anti configuration. Phosphine gold(I) mononuclear derivatives [Au(S2CNC10H20O4)(PR3)] (R = Me, Ph, both characterized by X-ray diffraction) and dinuclear diphosphine derivatives [{Au(S2CNC10H20O4)}(2)(mu-P-P)] (P-P = dppm, bis(diphenylphosphinomethane); dppp, 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphinopropane); and dppf, 1,1'-bis(diphenylphosphinoferrocene)) are also reported. In the mononuclear complexes, the molecular structure confirms that the dithiocarbamato ligand is mainly acting as monodentate, with a second longer Au-S distance of 3.197 (PMe3), 2.944(4) (PPh3), and 2.968 angstrom (CNR). Three phosphine complexes are emissive at 562 (PMe3), 528 (PPh3) and 605 nm (dppm), at 77 K. X-ray diffraction studies of the dppm derivative show gold-gold intramolecular contacts of 3.0972(9) angstrom (3.2265(10) angstrom for a second independent molecule) and basically monodentate coordination of the dithiocarbamato ligands. All the complexes extract sodium and potassium salts from aqueous solutions. The diphosphine derivatives are noticeably better extractors than the monophosphino derivatives, mainly for potassium salts.