Gold(I) complexes of bisphosphines with bis(azol-1-yl)methane backbone: structure of a rare dinuclear gold(I) complex [(Au2Cl){CH2(1,2-C3H2N2PPh2)2}3Cl].

Gold(i) complexes of bisphosphines assembled on the bis(azol-1-yl)methane platform viz.: bis(2-diphenylphosphinoimidazol-1-yl)methane (1), bis(5-diphenylphosphinopyrazol-1-yl)methane (2), bis(5-diphenylphosphino-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)methane (3) have been described. Reactions of two equivalents of bisphosphines 1-3 with Au(SMe2)Cl produced dinuclear complexes [(AuCl)2(μ-P^P)] (4-6) with AuAu distances around 3.13 Å. Similar reactions of bisphosphines 1 and 3 in 1 : 1 molar ratios yielded chelate complexes 7 and 9, whereas the ligand 2 formed a rare tetracoordinated digold(i) complex [(Au2Cl){CH2(1,2-C3H2N2PPh2)2}3Cl] (8) along with both chelate and binuclear complexes. The complex 8 was also prepared in good yield in 1.5 : 1 reaction. The structures of complexes 4, 5 and 8 have been confirmed by single crystal analysis.