A new approach to the synthesis of trinuclear gold(I) imidazolate complexes and their silver(I)-induced photoluminescence behavior

New trinuclear gold(I) N-arylimidazolate cluster complexes have been synthesized from cationic [Au(CNR)(2)](+) isocyanide complexes and their structure and photoluminescence behavior have been compared with those of their 1-methylimidazolate counterpart. A drastic change in their photophysical properties was observed upon coordination of the Ag+ cation.