Proximity Enforced Agostic Interactions Involving Closed-Shell Coinage Metal Ions

A proximity enforcing diarylsilane ligand is reported, which gives rise to unusual Si-H center dot center dot center dot M interactions with the d(10) metal ions Cu+ and Ag+ upon complexation. These interactions are studied in detail both experimentally and computationally and can be classified to be weakly agostic in nature for the Si-H center dot center dot center dot Cu interaction. The Si-H center dot center dot center dot Ag interaction has more signatures of an electrostatic contact.