Spectroscopic and electronic properties of 1-azaallylmetal(I) (M = Cu or Au) complexes; molecular structure of [{Au[mu-N(R)-C(Ph)CR2]}(2)] (R = SiMe3)

The reaction of [Li{N(R)C(Ph)CR2}(thf)] (R = SiMe3) with CuI or [AuCl(SMe2) ] gave the stable metal complexes [{M[mu-N(R)C(Ph)CR2]}(2)] (M = Cu or Au) which were fully characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, mass spect rometry, microanalysis and for M = Au X-ray diffraction. Their spectroscopi c and electrochemical properties are compared with the related copper compl exes [{Cu[mu-N(R)C(Bu-t)C(H)R]}(2)], [Cu{N(R)C(Bu-t)=C(H)R}(PPh3)] and [Li( dme)(3)][Cu{N(R)C(Bu-t)=C(H)R}(2)].