Structures and Conformational Dynamics of Gold(I) Halide Complexes of Resorcinarene Tetraphosphinite Ligands

Gold(I) halide derivatives of several tetrakis(diphenylphosphinite) tetraester resorcinarene compounds have been prepared. The complexes are shown to exist in boat conformations, and two different boat conformations were characterized by X-ray structure determinations; the structural characterization of both boat conformations of the same parent resorcinarene is unprecedented. Intramolecular Au··Au interactions were observed in the solid state for both boat conformers and could cause twisting of the resorcinarene skeleton. Several of the complexes exist in solution as an equilibrium mixture of the two different boat conformers, and the equilibrium and dynamics of exchange were studied by variable-temperature NMR.