Organo(organooxo)mercury(II) chemistry — Synthesis and structure of methyl(phenoxo)mercury(II)

Methyl(phenoxo)mercury(II) may be obtained from the reaction of methyl(chloro)mercury(II) with silver(I) oxide, followed by addition of phenol. The dominant motif of the structure is a pair of independent MeHgOPh aggregates (Hg—C,O 2.05(2) Å, 2.06(1) Å (x2); C-Hg-O 176.6(5)°, 176.3(5)°) loosely associated about a quasi-inversion centre by Hg···O interactions (2.702(9) Å, 2.719(9) Å) to form a dimer (Hg-O-Hg′ 106.0(4)°, 106.5(4)°; O-Hg-O′ 73.0(3)°, 72.6(3)°), the dimer stacking up the short crystallographic c axis (= 6.914(1) Å) at spacings c/2. Vibrational spectroscopic studies are insensitive to the associative interactions. Key words: mercury, methylmercury, organomercury, structure, aryloxide, phenoxide.