Group 11 Metal Complexes with Unsymmetrical Bifunctional Ferrocene Ligands

Synthesis and Structure of (Nitronyl Nitroxide-2-ido)(tert-butyldiphenylphosphine)gold(I) and -(Di(tert-butyl)phenylphosphine)gold(I) Derivatives; Their Comparative Study in the Cross-Coupling Reaction

We synthesized two new organogold derivatives of a nitronyl nitroxide (NN) with phosphine ligands, namely NN-Au-PtBuPh2 and NN-Au-PtBu2Ph. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, cyclic voltammetry, and ESR, IR, and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The X-ray structural analysis revealed a tendency of the NN moiety to form a large number of short intermolecular contacts. This phenomenon is related to the anionic nature of the paramagnetic group NN, as evidenced by a significantly lower oxidation potential in comparison with purely organic derivatives of NN radicals. The cross-coupling reaction of NN-Au-PPh3, NN-Au-PtBuPh2, or NN-Au-PtBu2Ph with an activated bromoarene, namely, p-BrC6H4NO2, was investigated. It was shown that regardless of the presence of the bulky tert-butyl substituent, all gold derivatives have similar activities in the cross-coupling reaction and give a cross-coupling product, NN-C6H4NO2, with comparable yields.