Direct formation of Au(iii) acetyl, alkoxyl and alkynyl functionalities via halide free tricationic Au(iii) precursors.

A novel synthetic approach for the synthesis of gold(iii) acetato, alkoxolato and alkynyl complexes was developed via the reactivity of gold(iii) trications containing the N,N-chelating ligand 2,2'-bipyridine and N,N,N-chelating ligand terpyridine through direct reactions with the protic precursors. This protocol avoids the gold(iii) chloride bond activation pathway commonly employed to access these functionalities. For example exposure of [LAu(iii)L']OTf3 (L = N,N,N-terpyridine, L' = 4-DMAP) to RH (R = OCH3, OAc, Ph-[triple bond, length as m-dash]) results in the facile formation of the corresponding functionalised gold(iii) complexes [LAu(iii)R]OTf2.