Structure and crystal chemistry of a mononuclear Au(II)Cl2 at extreme conditions

The formalism of the atom's oxidation state is one of the key concepts in chemistry. The discovery of the novel compounds with atoms that exist in unusual oxidation states results in a deeper understanding of their chemical behavior. For example, in most of the mononuclear gold compounds, Au has featured in +I and + III oxidation state, while only six genuine mononuclear Au(II) species have been structurally investigated over the last 30 years, and most of them only at low temperatures. In turn, gold (II) species are important compounds for homogeneous catalysis and medical applications, but their structural properties have remained poorly explored: even such fundamental data as the ionic radius of gold(II) is still unknown. Here we propose in-situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) structural study of simple mononuclear Au(II)Cl2 at high-pressure conditions.