Synthesis and characterization of gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes bearing biologically compatible moieties

Two new gold( I) complexes bearing the bulky N-heterocyclic carbene IPr (IPr = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol- 2-ylidene) and respectively 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-1-thio- beta-D-pyranosatothiolato [(IPr)AuTgt (1)] and a saccharin ligand [(IPr) AuSac (2)] have been synthesized in good yield and are fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and by inertatmosphere MALDI-TOF. These complexes are well-behaved compounds analogous to gold drugs such as Auranofin and Solganol.