The Flexibility of Tetra(N‐Heterocyclic Carbene) Ligands Controls the Nuclearity and Geometry of Polynuclear M <sup>I</sup> ‒NHC Assemblies
A series of tetrakisimidazolium salts bearing two di(phenylimidazolium)amine groups linked by differently substituted anthracenes has been prepared. These are H<sub>4</sub>-1a(PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>4</sub> (anthracene bridge), H<sub>4</sub>-1b(PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>4</sub> (phenyl-anthracene-phenyl bridge), H<sub>4</sub>-1c(PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>4</sub> (anthracene-phenyl bridge), and H<sub>4</sub>-1d(PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>4</sub> (anthracene-phenyl-anthracene bridge). X-ray crystallography showed that those ligand precursors having the di(phenylimidazolium)amine connected directly to the anthracene experience restricted rotation about the N─C<sub>anthracene</sub> bond. Depending on their flexibility, the reaction of the tetrakisimidazolium salts with Ag<sub>2</sub>O followed by transmetalation with [AuCl(THT)] yielded octanuclear ([Au<sub>8</sub>(1a)<sub>4</sub>](PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>8</sub>), tetranuclear ([Au<sub>4</sub>(1b)<sub>2</sub>](PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>4</sub>), hexanuclear ([Au<sub>6</sub>(1c)<sub>3</sub>](PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>6</sub>), or octanuclear ([Au<sub>8</sub>(1d)<sub>4</sub>](PF<sub>6</sub>)<sub>8</sub>) assemblies, demonstrating the direct bonding strategy can be employed for the selective synthesis of polynuclear poly-NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) metallosupramolecular assemblies.
Authors
- F. Ekkehardt Hahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2807-7232)
- Fang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5608-6649)
- Ying-Feng Han
- Guang-Feng Jin
Institutions
- University of Münster (DE)
- Northwest University (CN)
- Yan'an University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-03-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202502081
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- N-Heterocyclic Carbenes in Organic and Inorganic Chemistry
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74