Reactivity of [AuF3(SIMes)]: Pathway to Unprecedented Structural Motifs

Abstract

AbstractWe report on a comprehensive reactivity study starting from [AuF3(SIMes)] to synthesize different motifs of monomeric gold(III) fluorides. A plethora of different ligands has been introduced in a mono‐substitution yielding trans‐[AuF2X(SIMes)] including alkynido, cyanido, azido, and a set of perfluoroalkoxido complexes. The latter were better accomplished via use of perfluorinated carbonyl‐bearing molecules, which is unprecedented in gold chemistry. In case of the cyanide and azide, triple substitution gave rise to the corresponding [AuX3(SIMes)] complexes. Comparison of the chemical shift of the carbene carbon atom in the 13C{1H} NMR spectrum, the calculated SIMes affinity and the Au−C bond length in the solid state with related literature‐known complexes yields a classification of trans‐influences for a variety of ligands attached to the gold center. Therein, the mixed fluorido perfluoroalkoxido complexes have a similar SIMes affinity to AuF3 with a very low Gibbs energy of formation when using the perfluoro carbonyl route.