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Updated: Sep 21, 2025
12:30
Synthesis of a Thiol Building Block for the Crystallization of a Semiconducting Gyroidal Metal-sulfur Framework
Published on: April 9, 2018
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Sulfonium cations as versatile strongly π-acidic ligands
Ruiping Li1, Nitsan Barel1, Vasudevan Subramaniyan1
1Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem 9190401 Israel yuri.tulchinsky@mail.huji.ac.il.
Chemical Science
|June 3, 2022
Summary
Sulfonium cations, long known in organic chemistry, are now shown to be excellent ligands for rhodium and platinum. These novel coordination complexes highlight sulfonium
Area of Science:
- Coordination Chemistry
- Organometallic Chemistry
- Sulfur Chemistry
Background:
- Sulfonium cations are versatile in organic synthesis and materials science.
- Despite being isoelectronic to phosphine ligands, sulfonium coordination chemistry has been largely unexplored for decades.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and characterize the first Rh(I) and Pt(II) complexes featuring sulfonium ligands.
- To establish the coordination of aromatic sulfonium species.
- To investigate the electronic properties and catalytic potential of sulfonium ligands.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of novel sulfonium-metal complexes.
- Full characterization using spectroscopic and analytical techniques.
- Computational analysis (e.g., DFT) to probe bonding and electronic structure.
Main Results:
- Successful synthesis and characterization of Rh(I) and Pt(II) sulfonium complexes.
- Demonstration of aromatic sulfonium coordination to transition metals.
- Computational evidence for strong π-accepting character of sulfonium ligands, evidenced by short S-Rh bonds.
- Pincer frameworks further enhance the π-acidity of sulfonium ligands.
Conclusions:
- Sulfonium cations represent a new class of potent π-acceptor ligands in coordination chemistry.
- The developed complexes offer stability and modularity.
- These findings open avenues for sulfonium cations in π-acid catalysis.
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