Pyridyl Gold(I) Alkynyls: A Synthetic, Structural, Spectroscopic, and Computational Study

Planar neutral organometallic complexes have the potential to be exploited as building blocks for the construction of self-assembled nanoscale materials. We report the synthesis and first structural characterization of planar pyridyl gold(I) alkynyl complexes. Stable isolable complexes are only obtained when electron-rich pyridine ligands such as 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine or 4-aminopyridine are incorporated into the complexes. X-ray crystallography confirms that the pyridyl gold(I) alkynyls are neutral, linear, two-coordinate complexes. Furthermore, these gold(I) molecules form dimers in the solid state. However, no aurophilic interactions are observed to stabilize the solid-state structures. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been employed to model the electronic structure and thermodynamics of formation for selected complexes.