title: The use of imidazolium-2-dithiocarboxylates in the formation of gold(I) complexes and gold nanoparticles.
abstract: The imidazolium-2-dithiocarboxylate ligands IPr.CS(2), IMes.CS(2), and IDip.CS(2) react with [AuCl(PPh(3))] to yield [(Ph(3)P)Au(S(2)C.IPr)](+), [(Ph(3)P)Au(S(2)C.IMes)](+), and [(Ph(3)P)Au(S(2)C.IDip)](+), respectively. The compounds [(L)Au(S(2)C.IMes)](+) are prepared from the reaction of IMes.CS(2) with [AuCl(L)] (L = PMe(3), PCy(3), CN(t)Bu). The carbene-containing precursor [(IDip)AuCl] reacts with IPr.CS(2) and IMes.CS(2) to afford the complexes [(IDip)Au(S(2)C.IPr)](+) and [(IDip)Au(S(2)C.IMes)](+) with two carbene units, one bound to the metal center and the other to the dithiocarboxylate unit. Treatment of the diphosphine-gold complex [(dppm)(AuCl)(2)] with 1 equiv of IMes.CS(2) yields [(dppm)Au(2)(S(2)C.IMes)](2+), while the reaction of [L(2)(AuCl)(2)] (L(2) = dppb, dppf) with 2 equiv of IMes.CS(2) results in [(L(2)){Au(S(2)C.IMes)}(2)](2+). The homoleptic complexes [Au(S(2)C.IPr)(2)](2+), [Au(S(2)C.IMes)(2)](2+), and [Au(S(2)C.IDip)(2)](2+) are obtained from the reaction of [AuCl(tht)] with 2 equiv of the appropriate imidazolium-2-dithiocarboxylate ligand. The compounds [(Ph(3)P)Au(S(2)C.NHC)](+) (NHC = IMes, IDip) and [(IDip)Au(S(2)C.NHC)](+) (NHC = IPr, IMes) are characterized crystallographically. The IMes.CS(2) ligand is also used to prepare functionalized gold nanoparticles with diameters of 11.5 (+/-1.2) and 2.6 (+/-0.3) nm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, U.K.
authors.forename: Saira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naeem
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Delaude
authors.forename: Andrew J P
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: James D E T
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wilton-Ely