Anion mediated structural motifs in silver(I) complexes with corannulene

The synthesis of three new silver(I) complexes with corannulene is reported. In the crystal these complexes form extended networks of Ag(+) ions, corannulene nuclei, and counterions, similar to the networks reported for Ag(+) with other polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The preferred Ag(+)-arene interaction is compared with the model developed by Kochi. The crystal motifs can be described by a classification scheme analogous to that developed by Etter for hydrogen-bonded networks in solids. The effect of counterion variation (ClO(4)(-), O(3)SCF(3)(-), BF(4)(-)) is noted to be substantial. Thus, although one can categorize the various networks, it is hard to predict an expected packing pattern on the basis of preferred binding in the metal/organic complex alone.