Tethered Polynuclear Copper–Chalcogenolate Assemblies Enabled via NHC Ligation

The polynuclear copper–chalcogenolate complexes, 1,1′-fc­[CH2ECu­(IPr)]2 (E = S (1), E = Se (2); fc = ferrocenyl; IPr = 1,3-bis­(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)­imidazol-2-ylidene), [1,4-{CH2ECu­(IPr)}2C6Me4] (E = S (3), E = Se (4)), and 1,2,4,5-[{(CyCAAC)­CuSeCH2}4(C6H2)] 5 (CyCAAC = cyclic (alkyl)­(amino)­carbene; Cy = cyclohexyl) can be prepared in one-step reactions from the corresponding polychalcogeno­trimethylsilanes fc­(CH2ESiMe3)2/1,4-(Me3SiECH2)2(C6Me4)/1,2,4,5-(Me3SiSeCH2)4(C6H2) and [(IPr)­CuOAc]/[(CyCAAC)­CuOAc], respectively. The polychalcogeno­trimethylsilanes react under mild conditions to provide the (NHC/CAAC)­copper–chalcogenolates with trimethylsilylacetate as the side product. The preparation of these complexes represents a straightforward route to incorporate a number of metal chalcogenolate groups onto central organic/organometallic supports. The new complexes 1–5 have been characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.