In this work we computationally investigate the reaction of carbon dioxide with [LAuX] (L =phosphine, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC); X = Al(NON), B(o-tol)2) complexes to get insights into the Al/B anionic and gold ancillary ligand effects on the Au-Al/B bond nature, electronic structure, and reactivity of these compounds. The Au−Al and Au−B bonds have both an electron-sharing nature, with the diarylboryl gold complexes displaying a more polarized Auδ+−Bδ− bond. The gold ligand (phosphine or N-heterocyclic carbene) has a negligible electronic effect on the Au−X bond, consistently with a radical-like reactivity of the complexes with carbon dioxide, which favors the gold-aluminyl over the gold-diarylboryl complexes.
Details of the work at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c00174
