Synthesis of <i>N</i>-Heterocyclic Carbene Gold Complexes Using 2,4,6-Trimethylphenyl Sydnone as Model Substrate

Abstract

Two gold(I) complexes have been synthesized by a two-step reaction. The first reaction step was the deprotonation with butyllithium to obtain the corresponding NHC. In the second reaction step, the metal precursor was added to afford the corresponding gold complex. At this point, the complex obtained depends on the nature of the metal precursor. A monocarbene complex (sydnone-Au-tht) was obtained using [Au(tht)Cl] as the metal precursor and a biscarbene complex (sydnone-Au-imidazolium) was obtained using a gold imidazolium complex as the metal precursor instead. The 13C-NMR resonance frequencies of the carbene carbon atom shifted to higher values from 97.3 to 135.6–139.7 ppm, mono and biscarbene, respectively.

Keywords

• <i>N</i>-heterocyclic carbene
• sydnone
• gold(I) complex