A new, easily recyclable arylating agent based on a diphosphino-digold(I) complex

The synthesis of two organogold(I) complexes, [(Au(NCN))(2)(dppbp)] (6) and [(Au(Phebox))(2)(dppbp)] (9), and their application in subsequent transmetalating reactions are described. A trinuclear organogold(I) complex, [(AuCl)(3)(tdpppb)] (4) is also reported, which exhibits a surprisingly high solubility in dichloromethane. It was found that 6 and 9 can cleanly transfer the anionic NCN-([C6H3(CH2NMe2)(2)-2,6](-)) or Phebox-([2,6-bis(oxazolinyl) phenyl](-)) moiety to Ti-IV and Pd-II centers, respectively. The coproduct [(AuCl)(2)(dppbp)] (3, dppbp is [4-Ph2PC6H4](2) (1)) formed during this transmetalation reaction, precipitates almost quantitatively from the reaction mixture (toluene) and can thus be separated by simple filtration. In comparison, [AuCl(PPh3)], formed as the coproduct in the transmetalation reaction of [Au(NCN)(PPh3)] with metal salts, has a higher solubility in apolar solvents and thus is more difficult to separate from the resultant organometallic complex. Digold complex 6 has been characterized by NMR spectroscopy and crystallographic analyses. These analyses show that the two gold units are essentially independent. The formation of a dimetallic transmetalating agent based on gold(I) had no effect on its transmetalating properties.