Chiral Heterobimetallic Gold(I) Ferrocenyldithiophosphonato Complexes

Chiral and non‐chiral ferrocenyldithiophosphonates [tBuNH3][Fe(η5‐C5H5){η5‐C5H4P(OR)S2}] were prepared from [Fe(η5‐C5H5){η5‐C5H4PS(μ‐S)}]2 and the respective alcohol ROH [R = bornyl (1), myrtenyl (2), adamantyl (3)] and tBuNH2 as base. The reaction with [AuCl(tht)] (tht = tetrahydrothiophene) gave the corresponding chiral (1a, 2a) and non‐chiral (3a) heterobimetallic dimeric gold(I) ferrocenyldithiophosphonato complexes [Au{Fe(η5‐C5H5)(η5‐C5H4P(OR)(μ‐S)2)}]2 [R = bornyl (1a), myrtenyl (2a), adamantyl (3a)]. Compounds 1–3 and 1a–3a were characterised spectroscopically (IR, 1H, 13C, 31P NMR) and by mass spectrometry, and the chiral heterobimetallic dimeric gold(I) ferrocenyldithiophosphonato complex 1a was also structurally characterised by X‐ray crystallography.