Synthesis,characterization and luminescence of the tetranuclear gold cluster: [Au4{7,8-(PPh2)2-7,8-C2B9H10}2(PPh3)2]

A tetranuclear gold cluster has been synthesized by the reaction of Au(PPh₃)NO₃] with the closo carborane diphosphine 1,2-(PPh₂)₂-1,2-C₂B₁₀H₁₀ in THF, and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, ¹H and ¹³C?NMR spectroscopy and X-ray structure determination. The cluster crystallizes in the triclinic Pī, a?=?15.118(8)?Å, b?=?16.057(9)?Å, c?=?24.284(13)?Å, α?=?80.822(9)°, β?=?79.624(8)°, γ?=?81.938(8)°, Z?=?2, R ₁?=?0.0626, wR ₂?=?0.1894. A single crystal structure determination showed that four gold atoms form a tetrahedral framework. Among these four gold atoms, two were chelated by two nido carborane diphosphine 7,8-(PPh₂)₂-7,8-C₂B₉H₁₀]^? anions coming from the degradation of the initial closo ligand 1,2-(PPh₂)₂-1,2-C₂B₁₀H₁₀, while the other two were ligated to two PPh₃ groups. The luminescence of this cluster was also investigated in dichloromethane solution at room temperature.