Hypercoordinate phosphorus in gold clusters: novel species [P(AuL)6]3+(BF4–)3

Abstract

Treatment of (Me₃Si)₃P with a solution of six equivalents of a (triorganophosphine)gold(I) tetrafluoroborate LAu⁺BF₄^–(L = Bu^t₃P, Prⁱ₃P) in tetrahydrofuran, in the presence of an excess of KF, leads to high yields of the title compounds 1a, b as stable microcrystalline solids; the products, which contain interstitial six-coordinate phosphorus, have been characterized by a detailed NMR study and on the basis of elemental and mass spectrometric analysis.