Facile Synthesis of Gold(III) Aryl–Carbene Metallacycles

New gold­(III) metallacyclic complexes with unprecedented
aryl–carbene bidentate ligands have been prepared by the reaction
of the cycloaurated gold­(III) complex [AuCl2(pap-C1,N)] (pap = 2-(2-pyridylamino)­phenyl) with isocyanide CNR
(R = 2-naphthyl (1), cyclohexyl (2), or
2,6-dimethylphenyl (3)). Complexes have been spectroscopically
and structurally characterized, showing in some complexes aurophilic
gold­(III)···gold­(III) and π–π interactions.
In contrast with the starting material these complexes are emissive
in the solid state, probably because of the better σ-donor properties
of the new bidentate ligands.