Synthesis and structure of a tetrahedral homoleptic Cu <sup>I</sup> complex with xylyl isocyanide
Treatment of the Cu<sup>I</sup> precursor [Cu(NCMe)<sub>4</sub>]PF<sub>6</sub> with excess (10 equivalents) of relatively bulky xylyl isocyanide formed a tetra-(isocyanide) complex, namely, tetra-kis-(2,6-di-methyl-phenylisocyanide)copper(I) hexa-fluoro-phosphate, [Cu(C<sub>9</sub>H<sub>9</sub>N)<sub>4</sub>]PF<sub>6</sub> or [Cu(CNX-yl)<sub>4</sub>]PF<sub>6</sub>, in good yield. This is in contrast to the previously reported reactions of Cu<sup>I</sup> precursors with approximately three equivalents of xylyl isocyanide, which led selectively to the formation of tris-(isocyanide) complexes. The copper atom lies on a twofold axis and P atom on an inversion centre. The complex was characterized by X-ray crystallography, IR spectroscopy, and <sup>1</sup>H/<sup>13</sup>C {<sup>1</sup>H} NMR spectroscopy. In the crystal structure, each individual [Cu(CNX-yl)<sub>4</sub>]<sup>+</sup> mol-ecule demonstrates two pairs of coplanar xylyl isocyanide ligands. This arrangement leads to inter-molecular π-stacking inter-actions between nearby complex mol-ecules.
Authors
- Cassandra L. Ward (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6736-6769)
- Stanislav Groysman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3578-7985)
Institutions
- Wayne State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Acta Crystallographica Section E Crystallographic Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1107/s2056989025009867
- Primary Topic
- Organometallic Complex Synthesis and Catalysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Institutes of Health