A bonding model for gold(I) carbene complexes
Author: ["Diego Benitez","Nathan D. Shapiro","Ekaterina Tkatchouk","Yiming Wang","William A. Goddard III","F. Dean Toste"]
Publication: Nature Chemistry
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Abstract
The last decade has witnessed dramatic growth in the number of reactions catalysed by electrophilic gold complexes. Although proposed mechanisms often invoke the intermediacy of gold-stabilized cationic species, the nature of bonding in these intermediates remains unclear. Herein, we propose that the carbon–gold bond in these intermediates comprises varying degrees of both σ- and π-bonding; however, the overall bond order is generally less than or equal to one. The bonding in a given gold-stabilized intermediate, and the position of this intermediate on a continuum ranging from gold-stabilized singlet carbene to gold-coordinated carbocation is dictated by the carbene substituents and the ancillary ligand. Experiments show that the correlation between bonding and reactivity is reflected in the yield of gold-catalysed cyclopropanation reactions. An analysis of key intermediates relevant to gold(I) catalysis has been performed using density functional theory. A bonding model is proposed whereby the reactivity of gold(I)-coordinated carbenes is dependent on carbene substituents and ancillary ligands that dictate where these gold structures lie on a continuum ranging from a metal-stabilized singlet carbene to a metal-coordinated carbocation.
Cite this article
Benitez, D., Shapiro, N., Tkatchouk, E. et al. A bonding model for gold(I) carbene complexes. Nature Chem 1, 482–486 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.331