Metallosupramolecular Structures Derived from a Series of Diphosphine-bridged Digold(I) Metalloligands with Terminal d-Penicillamine.

In this report, we describe our recent work on the development of a new family of chiral heteroleptic digold(I) metalloligands with mixed diphosphine and d-penicillaminate (d-pen), [Au2 (dppx)(d-pen-S)2 ](2-) (dppx = PPh2 (CH2 )n PPh2 , n = 1-5) and their application for the construction of chiral multinuclear and metallosupramolecular structures. The reactions of the metalloligands with 3d metal ions produce a variety of chiral heterobimetallic structures retaining the digold(I) metalloligand structure, ranging from discrete trinuclear to infinite helix structures that depend on the type of dppx. In addition, monophosphine and triphosphine analogues of the metalloligands were designed, and their coordination behavior is discussed to show the essential properties and potential extensibility of this class of metalloligands.