Stimuli-Induced Reversible Transformation between Decanuclear and Pentanuclear Gold(I) Sulfido Complexes

Liang-Liang Yan; Liao-Yuan Yao; Maggie Ng; Wai Kit Tang; Ming-Yi Leung; Vivian Wing-Wah Yam

doi:10.1021/jacs.2c05946

Stimuli-Induced Reversible Transformation between Decanuclear and Pentanuclear Gold(I) Sulfido Complexes

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 Nov 2;144(43):19748-19757. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c05946. Epub 2022 Oct 20.

Authors

Liang-Liang Yan¹, Liao-Yuan Yao¹, Maggie Ng¹, Wai Kit Tang¹, Ming-Yi Leung¹, Vivian Wing-Wah Yam¹

Affiliation

¹ Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry, and Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong 999077, P. R. China.

PMID: 36264179
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c05946

Abstract

Decanuclear and pentanuclear gold(I) sulfido complexes of phenanthrene- and dibenzothiophene-based diphosphine ligands were synthesized and characterized. Unprecedented stimuli-induced reversible transformation between decanuclear and pentanuclear gold(I) sulfido complexes was observed, which could be readily monitored by NMR and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy in solution. Remarkably, the decanuclear gold(I) sulfido complex (Au₁₀-L^Ph) was found to show a highly reversible transformation process, which is stable for over 10 successive cycles in solution. The stimuli-induced reversible transformation behavior of the gold(I) sulfido complexes was found to depend on the P-P bite distance of the bidentate phosphine ligands.