The crystal and molecular structure of gold tris(fluorosulfate)

Abstract

Single crystals of gold(III) tris(fluorosulfate) are obtained by recrystallization from bis(fluorosulfuryl) peroxide, S2O6F2, under O2 pressure. The crystals of [Au(SO3F)3]2 are monoclinic, a = 9.700(4), b = 9.222(2), c = 10.810(4)Å, β = 94.43(3)°, Z = 2, space group P21/a. The structure was solved by heavy atom methods and was refined by full-matrix least-squares procedures, R(F) = 0.038 and Rw(F) = 0.050 for 1491 reflections with I ≥ 3σ(I). The structure consists of centrosymmetric [Au(SO3F)3]2 dimers containing two bidentate, symmetrically bridging and four monodentate, terminal SO3F ligands. The Au(III) ions have square-planar coordination geometry with bridging Au—O = 2.020(7) and 2.016(6) Å, and terminal Au—O = 1.959(7) and 1.956(9) Å. The dimeric [Au(SO3F)3]2 units are linked in the solid state by weak Au—O interactions (2.757(8) and 2.960(7) Å), resulting in a distorted octahedral coordination geometry about each gold atom. Key words: gold(III) tris(fluorosulfate), crystal structure.