Investigating silver coordination to mixed chalcogen ligands

Six silver(I) coordination complexes have been prepared and structurally characterised. Mixed chalcogen-donor acenaphthene ligands L1-L3 [Acenap(EPh)(E'Ph)] (Acenap = acenaphthene-5,6-diyl; E/E' = S, Se, Te) were independently treated with silver(I) salts (AgBF₄/AgOTf). In order to keep the number of variables to a minimum, all reactions were carried out using a 1:1 ratio of Ag/L and run in dichloromethane. The nature of the donor atoms, the coordinating ability of the respective counter-anion and the type of solvent used in recrystallisation, all affect the structural architecture of the final silver(I) complex, generating monomeric, silver(I) complexes {[AgBF₄(L)₂] (1 L = L1; 2 L = L2; 3 L = L3), [AgOTf(L)₃] (4 L = L1; 5 L = L3), [AgBF₄(L)₃] (2a L = L1; 3a L = L3)} and a 1D polymeric chain {[AgOTf(L3)](n) 6}. The organic acenaphthene ligands L1-L3 adopt a number of ligation modes (bis-monodentate μ₂-η²-bridging, quasi-chelating combining monodentate and η⁶-E(phenyl)-Ag(I) and classical monodentate coordination) with the central silver atom at the centre of a tetrahedral or trigonal planar coordination geometry in each case. The importance of weak interactions in the formation of metal-organic structures is also highlighted by the number of short non-covalent contacts present within each complex.