Halide-directed assembly of multicomponent systems: Highly ordered Au I-AgI molecular aggregates

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201004386

Triangular cationic belts [Au₃{PPh₂(C ₆H₄)_nPPh₂}₃] ³⁺ enclose bimetallic clusters [Au_wAg_x(C ₂Ph)_yX_z] in molecular aggregates obtained by halide (X)-directed assembly of multicomponent systems. The largest aggregate consists of a central metal alkynyl halide cluster [Au₁₈Ag ₃₀(C₂Ph)₃₆Cl₉]³⁺ inside a [Au₃{PPh₂(C₆H₄)₅PPh ₂}₃]³⁺ belt and comprises 51 metal atoms (see picture; Ag green, Au yellow, Cl violet, P red).

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201004386

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201004386
Molecular Aggregates
Halide-Directed Assembly of Multicomponent Systems: Highly
Ordered AuI–AgI Molecular Aggregates**
Igor O. Koshevoy,* Antti J. Karttunen, Julia R. Shakirova, Alexei S. Melnikov, Matti Haukka,
Sergey P. Tunik,* and Tapani A. Pakkanen*
A great deal of research in inorganic and organometallic
chemistry is devoted to investigation of self-assembly pro-
cesses, which spontaneously lead to formation of complex
multimetallic supramolecular entities from relatively simple
building blocks under mild conditions. The resulting well-
ordered species are of significant interest due to their
fascinating structural characteristics and promising optical,
electronic, or catalytic properties.[1,2] In most cases these
species are prepared by a metal–ligand coordination-based
strategy. However, group 11 metal ions tend to exhibit
effective noncovalent metal–metal interactions, which often
complicate the assembly processes and may result in forma-
tion of polymers or networks, catenanes, and polymetallic
clusters.[2,3] Hence, it is difficult to predict the structural
topology of coinage metal aggregates, and controlling the
system organization at the molecular or nanoscale level is a
major synthetic challenge.
weeks) exposure to daylight of a mixture of [AuC2Ph]n,
[AgC2Ph]n, and [Au2(P3P)2]2+ in CH2Cl2—a reported reaction
which initially gives the structurally different cluster
[Au12Ag10(C2Ph)16(P3P)2]2+.[9] This preparative route, which
À
eventually involves cleavage of C Cl bonds of CH2Cl2
molecules as a source of chloride, was quite ineffective
(yield of < 20%). Alternatively, it was found that treatment of
a stoichiometric reaction mixture with Ag+ and ClÀ ions
results in rather fast and nearly quantitative formation of 1
(Scheme 1).
One of the approaches to high-nuclearity coinage metal
clusters is an elegant anion-templated synthesis of homome-
tallic silver alkynyl cage compounds, which were shown to
incorporate halides,[4] carbonate,[5] chromate,[6] and even
polyoxometalates.[7] However, this approach is very little
studied and the assembly processes of the d10 heterometallic
compounds in the presence of coordinating anions have never
been investigated.
Scheme 1. Assembly of the clusters [Au12Ag12(C2Ph)18X3(P3P)3]3+
(CH2Cl2/acetone, 12 h); X=Cl (1, 92%), Br (2, 89%), I (3, 88%).
In the course of our studies on coinage metal clusters[8–10]
we isolated the novel complex [Au12Ag12(C2Ph)18Cl3(P3P)3]3+
(1, P3P = 4,4’’-PPh2(C6H4)3PPh2) after prolonged (ca. two
The bromide- and iodide-containing congeners (2 and 3)
were obtained analogously, though some addition of CHBr3
and MeI, respectively, was necessary to decrease possible
halide exchange with solvent (CH2Cl2). Complexes 1–3 were
[*] Dr. I. O. Koshevoy, Dr. A. J. Karttunen, Prof. M. Haukka,
Prof. T. A. Pakkanen
1
characterized by H and 31P NMR spectroscopy. An X-ray
Department of Chemistry, University of Eastern Finland
80101, Joensuu (Finland)
Fax: (+358)13-251-3390
diffraction study on 3 revealed its structure in the solid state
(Figure 1).[11] The molecule consists of the heterometallic
cluster [Au9Ag12(C2Ph)18I3] surrounded by a cationic “belt”
[Au3(P3P)3]3+. Even though the general structural motif—a
bimetallic cluster [AuxMy(C2Ph)z] inside a [Au3(PnP)3]3+
triangle—has been described before,[12,13] the peculiarity of 3
resides in the central “axis” of three IÀ ions, which effectively
directed the framework aggregation process and stabilized
E-mail: igor.koshevoy@uef.fi
tapani.pakkanen@uef.fi
J. R. Shakirova, Prof. S. P. Tunik
Department of Chemistry, St. Petersburg State University
Universitetskii pr. 26, 198504 St. Petersburg (Russia)
Fax: (+7)812-428-4028
E-mail: stunik@inbox.ru
À
the resulting metal core. The I Ag distances of 2.8330(14)–
Dr. A. S. Melnikov
Department of Physics, St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
3.0173(13) ꢀ suggest a significant contribution of a conven-
À
tional bonding between the halide and metal ions. The Au
[**] Financial support from Academy of Finland (I.O.K.), European
Union/European Regional Development Fund (grant 70026/08,
A.J.K., I.O.K.), Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 09-03-
12309 ofi-m) and Federal Agency on Science and Innovations (FC
02.518.11.7140) is acknowledged.
Ag contacts vary significantly from 2.7844(11) to
3.3472(11) ꢀ, the longest of which involve silver ions bound
to iodide ions. The average Au-Ag distance (3.02 ꢀ) and the
À
Au Au bonds between the central cluster and the external
“belt” (2.8813(6)–2.9055(6) ꢀ) are not exceptional and agree
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201004386.
with the previously reported values.[9,10,13]
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While in the case of the P3P ligand the assembly reaction
in the absence of halides leads to formation of other
heterometallic clusters characterized previously,[9,13] the reac-
tion mixtures based on diphosphine P5P did not allow for
isolation of any molecular species until the chloride ions were
added.
Cluster 4 was characterized by 1H and 31P NMR spectros-
copy. An X-ray diffraction study on 4 proved to be difficult
due to the poor diffraction of the crystals in general and a
sharp drop of the intensity of the reflections after 2q ꢀ 30–
408—a problem already mentioned for high-nuclearity clus-
ters.[14] Therefore, we were only able to get a dataset that did
not allow for high-quality refinement, but confirmed the
proposed structural motif (Figure S4, Supporting Informa-
tion). Cluster 4 consists of a central metal alkynyl halide
cluster [Au18Ag30(C2Ph)36Cl9]3+ placed inside a [Au3(P5P)3]3+
“belt”. The nearly 2D heterometallic framework contains
three equivalent trichloride “axes”, which were found to be in
a similar metal environment as in 1–3. To the best of our
knowledge, this is the largest AuI–AgI aggregate of unprece-
dented well-ordered structural arrangement.
Figure 1. Molecular structure of trication 3, as determined by X-ray
analysis.
The NMR characteristics of 1–3 are very similar to each
other and completely consistent with the solid-state structure
of 3. According to the idealized D3h symmetry group 31P NMR
spectra of 1–3 show single resonances at 43.3, 43.2, and
43.2 ppm, respectively.
The low-field parts of the proton spectra show the signals
of the phosphine ligand protons (Figure S1–S3, Supporting
Information), while the high-field resonances correspond to
the “ortho–meta–para” protons of the alkynyl ligands and
match exactly the 3:6 ratio of two inequivalent groups of gold
dialkynyl “rods” (Scheme 1).
The effectiveness of this halide-directed assembly reac-
tion prompted us to investigate possible extension of the
preparative route. According to a geometrical assumption, a
diphosphine with five phenylene spacers would be able to
form a related halide-stabilized cluster. Indeed, the use of this
ligand allowed isolation of the novel aggregate [Au21Ag30-
(C2Ph)36Cl9(P5P)3]6+ (4, P5P = 4,4’’’’-PPh2(C6H4)5PPh2) in good
yield (Scheme 2).
The NMR spectra of 4 are completely compatible with the
proposed structure. In accord with D3h symmetry, 4 displays a
singlet resonance in the 31P NMR spectrum at 45.1 ppm.
Similar to 1–3, in the 1H NMR spectrum of 4 (Figure S5,
Supporting Information) the phosphine ligand resonances are
well separated and shifted to low field compared to the signals
of the alkynyl ligands. Relative intensities of the signals in the
both groups as well as their multiplicity fit well the structural
motif of a [Au3(P5P)3]3+ “belt” with eighteen gold dialkynyl
“rods” inside it. The latter are divided into four groups to give
four sets of “ortho–meta–para” resonances with relative
intensities of 3:3:6:6, which match exactly the arrangement
of the central cluster core (Scheme 2 and Figure S6, Support-
ing Information).
The structural characteristics and electronic properties of
1–4 were also investigated by means of density functional
calculations (see Supporting information). The geometries of
the complexes were optimized at the BP86 DFT level of
theory and, in line with the experimentally observed struc-
tural characteristics, the central heterometallic cores were
found to fit well inside the triangular belts for all complexes.
A DFT-optimized structure of hexacation 4 is shown in
Figure 2.
Photophysical data for 1–4 in CH2Cl2 solution are
summarized in Table S2 of the Supporting Information. The
complexes display moderately strong green (1–3) and orange
(4) luminescence with maximum quantum yield of 13%
(Table S2, Supporting Information), and lifetimes in micro-
second domain indicate its triplet origin. Maxima of emission
bands of 1–3 are very similar to each other (535, 528, 530 nm,
respectively), but in the case of 3 a weak long-wavelength
emission (670 nm) appears in the spectrum, the origin of
which is not clear. Cluster 4 shows substantial red shift in the
emission maximum down to 664 nm. Accordingly, the theo-
retical results showed the emission energy gap for the T1 state
to be significantly smaller for cluster 4 in comparison to 1–3.
For all the complexes the emission is free of oxygen
quenching effect: 1–3 show intensity drops of less than a
Scheme 2. Assembly of the cluster [Au21Ag30(C2Ph)36Cl9(P5P)3]6+
(CH2Cl2/THF, 12 h, 71%).
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Communications
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factor of two in aerated solutions, and quenching is com-
pletely absent for 4. This is presumably due to efficient
isolation of the chromophore center from dipole–dipole
interaction with O2 by the organic groups. Additionally,
complexes 1 and 2 display reasonable nonlinear properties.
The two-photon absorption (TPA) cross sections were
measured to be 45 and 57 GM (800 nm) for 1 and 2,
respectively, which are comparable with that of Rhodami-
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In conclusion, we have demonstrated an effective and
unusual halide-directed self-assembly of luminescent nano-
scale AuI–AgI clusters, which show unprecedented nuclearity
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[11] Crystal data for 3: C286H223Ag12Au12F18I3O5P9, M = 8399.11,
yellow plate, 0.17 ꢁ 0.15 ꢁ 0.08 mm, monoclinic, space group
P21/c, a = 16.19050(10), b = 41.8183(3), c = 40.2024(3) ꢀ, a =
90, b = 98.83, g = 908, V= 26896.9(3) ꢀ3, Z = 4, 1cald
=
2.074 gcmÀ3, F(000) = 15788, Nonius KappaCCD, MoKa radia-
tion, l = 0.71073 ꢀ, T= 100(2) K, 2qmax = 50.048, 215756 reflec-
tions collected, 46788 unique (Rint = 0.0543). Final GoF = 1.015,
R1 = 0.0516, wR2 = 0.1166, with I > 2 s(I) (refinement on F2),
2879 parameters, 338 restraints. Lp and absorption corrections
applied, m = 7.830 mmÀ1. The structure was solved by direct
methods. Some of the diethyl ether, acetone, and methanol
solvent molecules in 3 were partially lost and slightly disordered.
Therefore, two diethyl ether molecules, one acetone molecule,
and the methanol molecule were refined with occupancies of 0.5.
No disorder models were used for final refinement. Several
geometric and displacement restraints were applied to solvent
molecules and to aromatic rings of some phenylacetylide ligands.
The MeOH hydrogen atom was located from the difference
Fourier map but constrained to ride on its parent oxygen atom.
Other hydrogen atoms were positioned geometrically and were
also constrained to ride on their parent atoms. CCDC 784361
and 784362 contain the supplementary crystallographic data for
this paper. These data can be obtained free of charge from The
Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre via www.ccdc.cam.ac.
uk/data_request/cif.
Received: July 17, 2010
Published online: October 8, 2010
Keywords: alkynyl ligands · cluster compounds · gold · P ligands ·
.
silver
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