Abstract
The different coordination behavior of the flexible yet sterically demanding, hemilabile P,N ligand bis(quinoline-2-ylmethyl)phenylphosphine (bqmpp) towards selected Cu(I) , Ag(I) and Au(I) species is described. The resulting X-ray crystal structures reveal interesting coordination geometries. With [Cu(MeCN)(4) ]BF(4) , compound 1 [Cu(2) (bqmpp)(2) ](BF(4) )(2) is obtained, wherein the copper(I) atoms display a distorted square planar and square pyramidal geometry. The steric demand and π-stacking of the ligand allow for a short Cu⋅⋅⋅Cu distance (2.588(9) Å). Cu(I) complex 2 [Cu(4) Cl(3) (bqmpp)(2) ]BF(4) contains a rarely observed Cu(4) Cl(3) cluster, probably enabled by dichloromethane as the chloride source. In the cluster, even shorter Cu⋅⋅⋅Cu distances (2.447(1) Å) are present. The reaction of Ag[SbF(6) ] with the ligand leads to a dinuclear compound (3) in solution as confirmed by (31) P{(1) H} NMR spectroscopy. During crystallization, instead of the expected phosphine complex 3, a tris(quinoline-2-ylmethyl)bisphenyl-phosphine (tqmbp) compound [Ag(2) (tqmbp)(2) ](SbF(6) )(2) 4 is formed by elimination of quinaldine. The Au(I) compound [Au(2) (bqmpp)(2) ]PF(6) (5) is prepared as expected and shows a linear arrangement of two phosphine ligands around Au(I) .