Carbon-Phosphorus Coupling from C^N Cyclometalated Au^III Complexes.

Area of Science:

• Organometallic Chemistry
• Catalysis
• Synthetic Chemistry

Background:

• Cross-coupling reactions are vital in synthetic chemistry.
• Gold complexes offer unique reactivity for catalytic transformations.
• Developing new C-P bond forming methodologies is of significant interest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the use of cyclometalated gold(III) complexes in C-P bond formation.
• To investigate the mechanism of gold(III)-mediated C-P cross-coupling.
• To establish structure-activity relationships for developing new gold-catalyzed reactions.

Main Methods:

• Reaction of C^N cyclometalated Au(III) complexes with phosphines.
• In situ 31P{1H} NMR and HR-ESI-MS analyses.
• Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of phosphonium salts via C-P reductive elimination.
• Demonstration of the reaction under mild conditions, including in water.
• Generalization of the C-P coupling to various Au(III) complexes and phosphines.

Conclusions:

• Gold(III) can mediate efficient C-aryl-P bond formation.
• A mechanistic pathway involving reductive elimination was proposed.
• This work expands the scope of cyclometalated gold chemistry for cross-coupling.