Synthesis and characterization of gold(I) complexes with the ligand 1,2-dithiolate-o-carborane. Crystal structures of [Au-2(mu-S2C2B10H10)(PPh(3))(2)], [Au-2(mu-S2C2B10H10)(mu-{(PPh(2))(2)(CH=CH)}], and [Au-2(mu-S2C2B10H10)(mu-{(PPh(2))(2)(C6H4)}]

Treatment of 1,2-dimercapto-o-carborane with 2 equiv of [AuCIL] in the presence of Na2CO3 gave the dinuclear complexes [Au-2(mu-S2C2B10H10)L(2)] [L=PPh(3) (1), PPh(2)Me (2), PPh(2)(C(6)H(4)Me-4) (3), SPPh(3) (4)] where the dithiolate ligand bridges both gold atoms. Further reaction of 1 with [Au(OTf)(PPh(3))] (OTf=trifluoromethanesulfonate) leads to the trinuclear species [Au-3(S2C2B10H10)(PPh(3))(3)](OTf) (5) The anionic derivative (PPh(3)Me)(2)[Au-2(C6F5)(2)-(mu-S2C2B10H10)] (6) was prepared by reaction of 1,2-(SH)(2)C2B10H10 with (PPh(3)Me)[AUBr(C6F5)]. Dinuclear complexes with two bridging ligands were synthesized: the neutral heterobridged species [Au-2(mu-S2C2B10H10)-(mu-P-P)] [P-P=dppm (7), dppey (8), dppp (9), dppph (10), dppe (11)] obtained from 1,2-(SH)(2)C2B10H10 and [Au2Cl2(mu-P-P)] and the homobridged anionic derivative NBu(4)[Au-2(mu-S2C2B10H10)(2)] (12) prepared by treatment of the 1,2-dimercapto-o-carborane with [AuCl(tht)] (tht=tetrahydrothiophene) (molar ratio 1:1) and NBu(4)Br. The crystal structures of complexes 1, 8, and 10 were determined by X-ray diffraction studies.