Oxygen-Bound Trifluoromethoxide Complexes of Copper and Gold

Well-defined copper and gold complexes have been prepared which contain the shortest structurally characterized metal–oxygen bonds between transition metals and a trifluoromethoxide moiety. The trifluoromethoxide ligand is O-bound to both the copper and gold centers, with a copper–oxygen distance of 1.849(4) Å and a gold–oxygen distance of 2.058(4) Å. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on all new trifluoromethoxy complexes were performed in order to obtain bond lengths and angles that are not influenced from any intermolecular contacts in the solid state and also to provide a first glimpse of the electronic features of this previously unknown ligand.