Chemistry in Environmentally Benign Media, 8 Hydroxymethyl Functionalized Phosphanes as Building Blocks to new Water‐Soluble Gold(I) Complexes ‐ synthesis, Characterization, and X‐ray crystal Structures of Novel Tetrahedral [Au{P(CH₂OH)₃}₄]⁺ and Trigonal Planar [Au(Ph₂PCH₂OH)₃]⁺ Gold (I) Complexes

The reactions of water‐soluble phosphanes P(CH 2 OH) 3 ( 1 ) and Ph 2 PCH 2 OH ( 2 ) with NaAuCl 4 in aqueous or alcoholic media, produced the water/alcoholic‐soluble Au I complexes [Au(Ph(CH 2 OH) 3 ) 4 ] + ( 3 ) and [Au(Ph 2 PCH 2 OH) 3 + ( 4 ) in near quantitative yields. The X‐ray structures of 3 and 4 , reported in this paper, confirm the structures of these new generation of water‐soluble transition metal complexes. All compounds were characterized by 1 H‐, 13 C‐, 31 P‐NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The structures of 3 and 4 were determined by X‐ray crystallography.