Capturing a Square Planar Gold(III) Complex Inside a Platinum Nanocage: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry 2019-03, Vol.58 (5), p.3189-3195
• Main Authors: Puig, Emmanuel, Desmarets, Christophe, Gontard, Geoffrey, Rager, Marie Noelle, Cooksy, Andrew L, Amouri, Hani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0020-1669; 1520-510X
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03272

A novel synthetic procedure was set up to gain access to platinum coordination cages Pt2L4, which are less investigated compared to their palladium counterparts. This Pt2L4 nanocage exhibits an adequate cavity for guest encapsulation. Indeed, the Au­(III) metal complex [Au­(bdt)2]− (bdt = benzene-1,2-dithiolate) was successfully captured inside the cavity, in contrast to the analogous palladium cage which failed to host the gold complex. This result represents a rare example where a metal complex with thio-ligands can be encapsulated in a coordination cage. Moreover, it highlights the role of the metal center and the robustness of the platinum cage for host–guest chemistry. This discovery will inspire researchers in this area to pay more attention to Pt-cages. The host–guest system was fully characterized by NMR techniques and X-ray crystallographic analysis. Moreover, the nature of the host–guest interaction in this unique example was investigated and rationalized by DFT computational studies.