Bridge-to-vertex oxidative slipping in an auraborane: synthesis and characterisation of [(B10H12)Au(B10H13)]2– and [(B10H12)Au(B10H12)]–

Abstract

The new auraboranes [(B₁₀H₁₂)Au(B₁₀H₁₃)]^2– and [(B₁₀H₁₂)Au(B₁₀H₁₂)]^– have been synthesised by the addition of B₁₀H₁₄ to a solution of R₃PAuMe (R = cyclo-C₆H₁₁ or C₆H₄Me-2), a crystallographic study showing that the geometry of the {AuB₁₀H₁₃} fragment of the former is that of an arachno fragment of a 13-vertex decosahedron; a mechanism is proposed which involves formal oxidative slipping of a gold atom from a B–Au–B bridge to a polyhedral vertex.