VISUALIZATION OF SOLID-STATE REACTIONS OF ANISYLMERCURY AND TRIPHENYLPHOSPHINEGOLD DERIVATIVES OF PHTHALEINS WITH BROMIDES

The visualization of solid-state reactions of bis-O-metallated phenolp hthaleins and xylenolphthaleins (M = HgC(6)H(4)OMe, AuPPh(3)) with bro mides, which has been discovered for the first time, was studied by IR and electronic reflectance spectroscopy. The appearance of intense co loration (purple, violet, or blue) after short-term grinding of colorl ess or faintly colored solid samples with salts is due to their ioniza tion with the formation of ion pairs or dianions depending on the natu re of the counterion. The reaction affects only a small fraction of th e molecules in the surface layers of the metallocomplexes.