Alkynyl Gold(I) Rigid-Rod Molecules from 1,12-Bis(ethynyl)-1,12-dicarba-closo-dodecaborane(12)

Reactions of 1,12-bis(ethynyl)-1,12-dicarba- closo -dodecaborane(12), 1,12-(HC⋮C) 2 -1,12-C 2 B 10 H 10 (diethynylcarborane, decH 2 ), with gold complexes of type [Au(acac)L] (acac = acetylacetonate) gave the neutral digold complexes [(AuL) 2 (μ-dec)] [L = PPh 3 ( 1 ), P(C 6 H 4 OMe-4) 3 ( 2 ), C(NH t Bu)(NEt 2 ) ( 3 )]. The neutral complex [(AuCN t Bu) 2 (μ-dec)] ( 5 ) was obtained by adding t BuNC to the complex [Au 2 (μ-dec)] n ( 4 ) resulting from the reaction of decH 2 with [AuCl(SMe 2 )] and NEt 3 . The anionic complex PPN[Au(decH) 2 ] ( 6 ) (PPN = Ph 3 P N PPh 3 ) was isolated from its mixture with (PPN) 2 [{Au(decH)} 2 (μ-dec)] ( 7 ) by reacting PPN[Au(acac) 2 ] and decH 2 in 1:4 molar ratio. The rigid-rod structures of the digold compound 2 ·CH 2 Cl 2 and the salt 6 ·CHCl 3 were determined by X-ray crystallography.