An extremely electron poor Au() trication bearing acetonitrile ligands

The synthesis and structural characterization of an electron poor Au( iii ) trication bearing 2 imidazole and 2 acetonitrile ligands is described. The new complex is capable of aryl C-H metalation with the formation of a monomesitylene complex and also demonstrated to be highly oxidizing in the rapid room temperature conversion of cyclohexene to benzene. Taking advantage of the weak Au( iii )-F bond, fluoride abstraction from a bis-fluorido Au( iii ) cation in MeCN furnishes a bis-acetonitrile complex representing the most electron poor Au( iii ) coordination complex known.