Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Selected Properties of [Au(S2 CNH2 )2 ]SCN: A Precursor for Gold Macro-Needles Consisting of Gold Nanoparticles Glued by Graphitic Carbon Nitride.

A new preparation route is developed for the synthesis of needle-like crystals of [Au(S2 CNH2 )2 ]SCN, which avoids disproportionation of the AuI salt used as a starting material. In the crystal structure, the two crystallographically independent AuIII centers are in a square-planar environment of two S2 CNH2 ligands. The Hirshfeld surface analysis reveals the presence of noncovalent intermolecular S⋅⋅⋅S interactions, which are essential for the spatial arrangement of the molecules. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations including dispersion and damping corrections result in a unit cell volume very close to the value determined experimentally. Thermal decomposition in an inert atmosphere generates black needles with lengths of up to 500 μm. X-ray powder diffraction and pair distribution function analyses demonstrate that the needles are composed of nanosized crystals with a volume-weighted average domain size of 20(1) nm. According to results of X-ray photoemission experiments, the black needles are covered by a nitrogen-rich carbon nitride with composition near (CN)2 N. 13 C solid-state NMR investigations indicate that two different carbon species are present, with signals corresponding well to heptazine units as in melon and triazine units as in poly(triazin imide) type compounds. Scanning transmission electron microscopy tomography evidences that the needles are composed of slightly elongated nanoparticles.