Mössbauer data for a large number of gold(I) complexes are presented. From these data and previously published work it is concluded that: (i) the bonding involves only 6S and 6p orbitals; (ii)π acceptance by ligands from gold is negligible; (iii) the gold atom tends to concentrate S character in bonds to such ligands as phosphines and p character to such as chlorine and cyanide; and (iv) the bonding properties of a ligand may vary considerably. The difficulties that these conclusions bring to the classification of ligands and the correlation with n.q.r. data are discussed.
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Jones et al. (1977) studied this question.