Luminescent Chains Formed from Neutral, Triangular Gold Complexes Sandwiching Tl and Ag. Structures of {Ag([Au(μ-C,N-bzim)])}BF·CHCl, {Tl([Au(μ-C,N-bzim)])}PF·0.5THF (bzim = 1-Benzylimidazolate), and {Tl([Au(μ-C(OEt)═NCHCH)])}PF·THF, with MAu (M = Ag, Tl) Cluster Cores.

It has been found that several trinuclear complexes of Au interact with silver and thallium salts to intercalate Ag and Tl cations, thereby forming chains. The resulting sandwich clusters center the cations between the planar trinuclear moieties producing structures in which six Au atoms interact with each cation in a distorted trigonal prismatic coordination. The resultant (BABBAB) pattern of metal atoms also shows short (∼3.0 Å) aurophilic interactions between BAB molecular centers. These compounds display a strong visible luminescence, under UV excitation, which is sensitive to temperature and the metal ion interacting with the gold. X-ray crystal structures are reported for Ag([Au(μ-C,N-bzim)])BF·CHCl (P [Formula: see text] , Z = 2, a = 14.4505(1)Å; b = 15.098(2)Å; c = 15.957(1)Å; α = 106.189(3)°; β = 103.551(5)°; γ = 101.310(5)°); Tl([Au(μ-C,N-bzim)])PF·0.5CHO (P [Formula: see text] , Z = 2, a = 15.2093(1)Å; b =15.3931(4)Å; c = 16.1599(4)Å; α = 106.018(1)°; β = 101.585(2)°; γ=102.068(2)°); and Tl([Au(μ-C(OEt)═NCHCH)])PF·CHO (P2(1)/n, Z = 4, a = 16.4136(3)Å; b = 27.6277(4)Å; c = 16.7182(1)Å; β = 105.644(1)°). Each compound shows that the intercalated cation, Ag or Tl, coordinates to a distorted trigonal prism of six Au atoms. The counteranions reside well apart from the cations between the cluster chains.