Gold(III) and Platinum(II) Polypyridyl Double Salts and a General Metathesis Route to Metallophilic Interactions

Nine new double-salt compounds have been prepared and six
crystal structures are reported that demonstrate a general metathesis route to double-salt compounds with metallophilic interactions. The compounds contain [Pt(terpy)X]+ or [Au(bpy)X2]+ cations,
AuIII or AuI anions such as [AuBr4]- or [AuCl2]-, and are prepared
in water and recrystallized from organic solvents. In all crystallographically characterized cases, there exist metallophilic interactions
between cations and anions, demonstrating the power of this
general route. In most cases, there exists an unbroken chain of
metallophilic interactions through the crystal, forming single-atom-wide wires.