Crystal structures of 9-[bis-(benzyl-sulfan-yl)meth-yl]anthracene and of -dodeca-kis-(μ-phenyl-methane-thiol-ato-κ :)hexa-palladium(6 -)-anthracene-9,10-dione (1/1).

The first title compound, CHS, , represents an example of an anthracene-based functionalized di-thio-ether, which may be useful as a potential chelating or terminal ligand for coordination chemistry. This di-thio-acetal crystallizes in the monoclinic space group 2/. The phenyl rings of the benzyl groups and that of the anthracene unit form dihedral angles of 49.21 (4) and 58.79 (5)° and the crystal structure displays short C-H⋯π contacts. Surprisingly, when attempting to coordinate to [PdCl(PhCN)], instead of the targeted chelate complex [PdCl(κ-)], a cleavage reaction leads to the formation of the centrosymmetric hexa-nuclear cyclic cluster of composition [Pd(μ-SCHPh)] , or [Pd(CHS)]·CHO. This tiara-shaped hexa-mer crystallizing in the triclinic space group consists of six approximately square planar Pd(II)S centers, which are inter-connected through twelve μ-bridging benzyl thiol-ate groups. The Pd⋯Pd contacts range from 3.0892 (2) to 3.1609 (2) Å and can be considered as weakly bonding. The unit cell of contains also a co-crystallized anthracene-9,10-dione mol-ecule.