Cadmium bis(phenylselenolate) as a precursor for the synthesis of polymeric Cd(μ-Se)clusters: Crystal and molecular structures of [Cd4(SePh)7(PPh3)X]n (X = Cl, Br)

The reaction of Cd(SePh)2 with CdX2 (X = Cl (1), Br (2)) in MeOH in the presence of PPh3 at 130 °C under solvothermal conditions affords the products [Cd4(SePh)7(PPh3)X]n, a one-dimensional assembly of adamantanoid [Cd4(SePh)6(PPh3)X] clusters joined into a polymeric chain by μ-SePh bridges. Compounds 1 and 2 represent examples of extended one-dimensional chains of closed ME (M = metal, E = S, Se, Te) systems, whose importance is based not only on their properties, but by their possible use as precursor materials for design and development of new methodologies via a “bottom up” strategy to obtain different clusters from single components.