Synthesis and X-ray structural characterization of a series of dimeric [Hg2(SePh)2X2(PR2R′)2] compounds (R = tert-butyl; R′ = 4-N,N-dimethylaniline and X = Cl, Br, I, SCN, SePh)

This article presents the syntheses and characterization of five new compounds with the general formula [Hg2(SePh)2X2(PR2R′)2] (R = tert-butyl; R′ = 4-N,N-dimethylaniline), where X = Cl (1a), Br (1b), I (1c), SCN (2), SePh (3). The compounds crystallized as dimeric {HgSe} units, although most of these chalcogenolate compounds appeared to be polymeric adamantanoid or fused adamantanoid species. The ligand structures of these compounds limited the growth of the molecular structures and promoted the formation of the dimeric form alone. The mercury centers were connected to one another through one μ-Cl and one μ-SePh bridge in 1a, and through two μ-SePh bridges in 1b, 1c, 2, and 3. The compounds were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffractometry, TGA, elemental analysis, and infrared spectroscopy.