The development of molecular wires consisting of linearly arranged metal atoms that are embedded in polydentate ligand scaffolds has made tremendous progress within in the past decade. Group 11 metal centers in multinuclear molecular frameworks are of particular interest, since they facilitate closed-shell metal MI…MI (d10…d10) interactions (M = Cu, Ag, Au). The extraordinary luminescence properties of these materials result in potential applications not only for nanoelectronics, but also as powerful building blocks in organic light-emitting devices/diodes (OLEDs). Our concept is based on a series of the new polydentate bis(amidine) ligands L1–5H2 with a sterically protected flexible backbone. It has been recently demonstrated that L1H2 undergoes with mesitylcopper a clean conversion into a neutral, homoleptic, and helically-bent tetranuclear complex L12Cu4, that dimerizes into the unique octanuclear cluster L14Cu8. Herein, the new ligands L2–5H2, capable of providing four to six donor sites each, are reported. A convenient straightforward synthetic sequence in three steps and the molecular structures, determined by X-ray crystallography, are presented. L2H2, L4H2, and L5H2 feature a remarkable network of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in the solid state. All new ligands form multinuclear copper(I) and gold(I) complexes that are currently under investigation.

New multifunctional bis(amidine) ligands for highly luminescent coinage metal assemblies: Synthesis, structures, and coordination behavior

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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