Diversity of aggregation motifs in gold(i) dithiocarboxylate complexes

Abstract

Neutral, homoleptic gold(I) dithiocarboxylate complexes with different-sized Me, ⁱPr, Mes, Tip, Mes* and Dmp substituents at the dithiocarboxylate unit were synthesized by reacting the corresponding dithiocarboxylic acid with potassium dicyanoaurate(I). They were characterized by IR spectroscopy and elemental analyses and their structures were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The dinuclear complexes with an intramolecular d¹⁰–d¹⁰ type aurophilic interaction aggregate through additional intermolecular aurophilic interactions in different binding motifs. The molecular structures and the patterns of aggregation in the solid state are presented and discussed with respect to the influence of the substituent size.