First heterobimetallic AgI–CoIII coordination compound with both bridging and terminal –NO2 coordination modes: synthesis,characterization, structural and computational studies of (PPh3)2AgI–(μ‐κ2O,O′:κN‐NO2)–CoIII(DMGH)2(κN‐NO2)

An unusual heterobimetallic bis(triphenylphosphane)(NO₂)Ag^I–Co^III(dimethylglyoximate)(NO₂) coordination compound with both bridging and terminal –NO₂ (nitro) coordination modes has been isolated and characterized from the reaction of CoCl(DMGH)₂(PPh₃)] (DMGH₂ is dimethylglyoxime or N,N′‐dihydroxybutane‐2,3‐diimine) with excess AgNO₂. In the title compound, namely bis(dimethylglyoximato‐1κ²O,O′)(μ‐nitro‐1κN:2κ²O,O′)(nitro‐1κN)bis(triphenylphosphane‐2κP)cobalt(III)silver(I), AgCo(C₄H₇N₂O₂)₂(NO₂)₂(C₁₈H₁₅P)₂], one of the ambidentate –NO₂ ligands, in a bridging mode, chelates the Ag^I atom in an isobidentate κ²O,O′‐manner and its N atom is coordinated to the Co^III atom. The other –NO₂ ligand is terminally κN‐coordinated to the Co^III atom. The structure has been fully characterized by X‐ray crystallography and spectroscopic methods. Density functional theory (DFT) and time‐dependent density functional theory (TD‐DFT) have been used to study the ground‐state electronic structure and elucidate the origin of the electronic transitions, respectively.