Synthesis and microcrystal structure determination of [Au10(PPh3)7{S2C2(CN)2}2] with monochromatic synchrotron radiation

Abstract

The structure of this high nuclearity gold cluster has been determined from a single microcrystal of dimensions 10 × 10 × 30 µm (the X-ray diffraction data were recorded with synchrotron radiation using an Enraf-Nonius area detector diffractometer at Daresbury Laboratory); in the cluster three trigonal bipyramidal Au₅ groups share a common central gold atom and share edges; the group often gold atoms has symmetry near to D_3h, but when the seven triphenyl phosphine and two dithiolene ligands are taken into account the molecular symmetry is very approximately C₂.