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Carbon-gold bond formation propels a growing number of homogeneous catalyses, but the C-Au bond formation itself is comparatively underinvestigated. Reported here are C-Au bond-forming reactions that result from [3 + 2] cycloaddition of (triphenylphosphine)gold(I) azide to terminal alkynes. The reaction proceeds with the preformed azide complex or, in situ, by reaction of the corresponding gold(I) alkynyl with trimethylsilyl azide in the presence of protic solvents. This metal-mediated cycloaddition is analogous to the Huisgen dipolar addition of azides and alkynes and provides access to new classes of gold-bearing compounds and materials.

The rational design of triplet-state sensitizers for the photodynamic therapy of cancers [1][2][3] and other diseases [4] remains an obdurate challenge. A prominent strategy [5][6][7] is the modification of existing photosensitizers with bromine (Z = 35) or iodine (Z = 53); the resulting heavy-atom effects potentiate the generation of therapeutic 1 D g O 2 . The (phosphane)gold(I) fragment is s-isolobal with the proton. Terminal substitution of aromatic organic molecules with gold (Z = 79) has clear desirability for developing phototherapy mediators. What is missing are mild means of carbon-gold bond formation in the presence of sensitive functional groups. We describe here a selective protocol that installs gold(I)-carbon bonds along the peripheries of organic molecules. Reducible, polar moieties are tolerated, including nitro groups, aldehydes, ketones, and esters. The organometallic compounds described here withstand air and water indefinitely. The ability to modify organic fluorophores with gold raises immediate opportunities in metallopharmaceuticals design. [8][9][10] Finally, the new protocol affords organogold(I) compounds more rapidly and in higher yield than by traditional methods [11] of arylating gold. In the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling, [12,13] carbon-carbon bond formation is believed to follow transmetalation from boron to palladium. The reaction often requires an auxiliary base, which is thought to quaternize boron and promote transmetalation.[14] Related precedents include observations by the groups of Schmidbaur [15] and Fackler [16] of phenyl-group transfer from BPh 4 À to gold(I) in aqueous and non-aqueous media.[*] Dr.

Phosphine)-and (N-heterocyclic carbene)gold(I) derivatives of naphthalene and pyrene are reported, containing one or two gold atoms per hydrocarbon. The new complexes are prepared by arylation of gold(I) substrates by arylboronic acids or aryl pinacolboronate esters in the presence of cesium carbonate. Isolated yields range from 52% to 98%. The boron precursors themselves derive from the parent hydrocarbon, where boron is installed in an iridium-catalyzed reaction, or from the aromatic bromides, which are borylated with palladium catalysis. Most of the new gold(I) complexes are air-and moisture-stable colorless solids; they are characterized by multinuclear NMR and optical spectroscopy, combustion analysis, and high-resolution mass spectrometry. X-ray diffraction crystal structures are reported for seven. Gold binding red-shifts optical absorption profiles, which are characteristic of the aromatic skeleton. All compounds show triplet-state luminescence, and dual singlet and triplet emission occurs in some instances. Phosphorescence persists for milliseconds at 77 K and for hundreds of microseconds at room temperature. The compounds' photophysical characteristics, along with time-dependent density-functional theory calculations, suggest emission from ππ* states of the aromatic core. Triplet-state geometry optimization finds minimal geometric rearrangement upon one-electron promotion from the (singlet) ground state.

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The copper(I)-catalyzed Huisgen [3 þ 2] cycloaddition is a general reaction encompassing wide ranges of organoazide and primarily terminal alkyne reacting partners. Strained internal alkynes can also undergo cycloaddition with azides. We report here that tetrakis(acetonitrile)copper(I) hexafluorophosphate catalyzes the [3 þ 2] cycloaddition of (phosphine)-and (N-heterocyclic carbene)gold(I) alkynyls with benzyl azide. Isolated yields of up to 96% result. The reaction protocol broadly tolerates functionalities on the alkynyl reagent. Gold(I) triazolate products form with complete 1,4-regioselectivity. Some 15 new gold(I) triazolates are reported along with crystal structures of nine. Triazolate complexes bearing polycyclic aromatic substituents show dual singlet-and triplet-state luminescence from excited states localized on the aromatic fragment. Time-resolved emission experiments find long lifetimes consistent with triplet emission parentage. Absorption and emission transitions are analyzed with time-dependent density-functional theory calculations.

The nucleophilic reactivity of oxo ligands in the groups M(VI)O(3) in the trigonal complexes [(Me(3)tacn)MO(3)] (M = Mo (1), W (10)) and [(Bu(t)(3)tach)MO(3)] (M = Mo (5), W (14)) has been investigated. Complexes 1/10 can be alkylated with MeOTf to give [(Me(3)tacn)MO(2)(OMe)](1+) (2/11), silylated with Pr(i)(3)SiOTf to form [(Me(3)tacn)MO(2)(OSiPr(i)(3))](+) (3/12), and protonated with HOTf to yield [(Me(3)tacn)MoO(2)(OH)](+) (4). Similarly, complexes 5/14 can be silylated to [(Bu(t)(3)tach)MO(2)(OSiPr(i)(3))](+) (6/15) and protonated to [(Bu(t)(3)tach)MO(2)(OH)](+) (7/16). Products were isolated as triflate salts in yields exceeding 70%. When excess acid was used, the dinuclear mu-oxo species [(Bu(t)(3)tach)(2)M(2)O(5)](2+) (8/17) were obtained. X-ray structures are reported for 2-4, 6-8, 12, and 15-17. All mononuclear complexes have dominant trigonal symmetry with a rhombic distortion owing to a M[bond]OR bond (R = Me, SiPr(i)(3), H), which is longer than M[double bond]O oxo interactions; the latter exert a substantial trans influence on M[bond]N bond lengths. Oxo ligands in 5/14 undergo replacement with sulfide. Lawesson's reagent effects formation of [(Bu(t)(3)tach)MS(3)] (9/18), 14 with excess B(2)S(3) yields incompletely substituted [(Bu(t)(3)tach)WOS(2)] (20), and 5 with excess B(2)S(3) yields [(Bu(t)(3)tach)Mo(IV)O(S(4))] (19). The structures of 9, 19, and 20 are reported. Precedents for M(VI)S(3) groups in five- and six-coordinate molecules are limited. This investigation is the first detailed study of the behavior of M(VI)O(3) groups in nucleophilic and oxo/sulfido substitution reactions and should be useful in synthetic approaches to the active sites of the xanthine oxidase enzyme family and of certain tungstoenzymes. (Bu(t)(3)tach = 1,3,5-tri-tert-butyl-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane, Me(3)tacn = 1,4,7-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclonane; OTf = triflate).

Tetraarylazadipyrromethenes, and especially their boron chelates, are a growing class of chromophores that are photoactive toward red light. The coordination chemistry of these ligands remains to be explored. Reported here are four-coordinate zinc(II) and mercury(II) complexes of tetraarylazadipyrromethene ligands. The new complexes contain two azadipyrromethenes bound per d(10) metal center and are characterized by (1)H NMR, optical absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction crystallography, and elemental analysis. Solid-state structures show that these bis-chelate complexes distort significantly from idealized D2d symmetry. AM1 geometry optimizations indicate relaxation energies in the range of 6.8-15.2 kcal mol(-1); interligand pi-stacking provides an added energetic impetus for distortion. The absorption spectra show a marked increase in the absorption intensity in the red region and, in the case of the zinc(II) complexes, the development of a second distinct absorption band in this region, which is red-shifted by ca. 40-50 nm relative to the free ligand. Semiempirical INDO/S computations indicate that these low-energy optical absorptions derive from allowed excitations among ligand-based orbitals that derive from the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the free azadipyrromethene.