Three- and four-coordinate gold(I) complexes of 3,6-bis(diphenylphosphino)pyridazine: monomers, polymers, and a metallocryptand cage.

The slightly yellow polymeric complexes Au(2)Cl(2)(P(2)pz)(3), 1 x 6CHCl(3), (P(2)pz is 3,6-bis(diphenylphosphino)pyridazine) and Au(2)(P(2)pz)(3)(2), 2, are prepared by the stoichiometric reaction of AuCl(tht) (tht is tetrahydrothiophene) and P(2)pz in either dichloromethane or dichloromethane/methanol, respectively. Addition of 2 equiv of AuCl(tht) to a dichloromethane solution of 1 equiv of P(2)pz generates the simple (AuCl)(2)(P(2)pz) compound, 3. Compound 3 contains nearly linear P-Au-Cl units with intermolecular Au.Au separations of 3.570 A. Au(2)I(2)(P(2)pz)(3), 4, is prepared by reacting excess NaI with 2 in a dichloromethane/methanol mixture. Characterization of 1, 2, and 4 by X-ray crystallography confirms the 2:3 gold/ligand ratio of all three complexes. The coordination polymer 1 maintains a high degree of solvation in the solid-state with three chloroform adducts hydrogen-bonded to the chloride ligand on each gold atom. These chloroform molecules are sandwiched between the two-dimensional polymeric sheets of 1. The crystal structure of 4 reveals an empty, iodide-capped metallocryptand cage with the tetrahedrally distorted gold atoms and the nitrogen atoms on the pyridazine rings directed away from the center of the cavity. No metal ion encapsulation was observed for complex 4. Complex 2 forms one-dimensional arrays of Au(2)(P(2)pz)(2) metallomacrocycles connected to each other by a third P(2)pz ligand. The electronic absorption spectra (CH(2)Cl(2)) of 1-4 show broad, nearly featureless absorption bands that tail into the visible with pi-pi bands at 296 nm and discernible shoulders at 314 nm for 2 and 334 nm for 3. Excitation into the low energy band of 2 produces only a modest emission in solution at 540 nm (lambda(ex) 468 nm) and 493 nm (lambda(ex) 403 nm). Under identical conditions, the P(2)pz ligand also emits at 540 and 493 nm.