Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Synthesis of Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters for Biological Applications
Published on: March 22, 2020
Au-Au chemical bonding induced by UV irradiation of dinuclear gold(I) complexes: a computational study with
Camille Latouche1, Yan-Ru Lin, Yeny Tobon
1Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, UMR 6226 CNRS-Université de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes cedex, France. abdou.boucekkine@univ-rennes1.fr.
Abstract:
Two luminescent dinuclear gold(I) species, namely diselenophosphinate [Au2{μ-Se2P((CH2)2Ph)2}2] and dithiophosphinate [Au2{μ-S2P((CH2)2Ph)2}2], exhibiting interesting structural, absorption and emission properties have been studied. In the solid state, both complexes exist in a dinuclear monomeric form, exhibiting no aurophilic interaction, and display similar photophysical properties. It is shown, using DFT computations, that Au-Au chemical bonding appears in the first excited state of these complexes, whereas such bonding does not exist in their ground state; Raman spectroscopy experiments, which bring to light the stretching of this new bond, confirm the theoretical results. Moreover, TDDFT computations permitted us to assign the observed absorption bands of the UV-visible spectra of the two species to LMCT transitions and to describe the emission.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Molecular Electronic Transitions
Valence Bond Theory
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...

