Synthesis and structures of gold(I) phosphine complexes containing monoanionic selenocarbamate ester ligands

A series of mono- and dinuclear gold(I) phosphine complexes of the type [Au{SeC(OMe)double bond; length as m-dashNPh}(P)] [P = PPh3, PTA, P(o-tolyl)3, P(p-MeOC6H4)3] and [Au2{SeC(OMe)double bond; length as m-dashNPh}2(μ-PP)] (PP = dppm, dppe, dppp, dppf, dppee) were prepared from the reaction of the appropriate chlorogold(I) phosphine complexes with N-phenyl-O-methylselenocarbamide in the presence of base. These new complexes were fully characterised by spectroscopic techniques and, in several cases, by X-ray crystallography. The differences in the solid-state structures of these selenium complexes were compared with those of some sulfur analogues.