Sodium tetraphenylborate as a phenylating agent for gold(I) complexes

Phenyl[tri(tent-butyl)phosphine]gold(I) has been prepared from tris([tri(tert-butyl)phosphine]gold(1))oxonium tetrafluoroborate and sodium tetraphenylborate in ethanol at ambient temperature. The compound is also available from chloro[tri(tert-butyl)phosphine]gold(I) and phenyllithium in tetrahydrofuran. 1,4-Bis([phenylgold(l)]diphenylphosphinomethyl)benzene has been generated from the chloro complex 1,4-[(ClAu)Ph₂PCH₂]₂C₆H₄ either with silver oxide and sodium tetraphenylborate or with phenyllithium. The compounds have been identified by their analytical and spectroscopic data, and their structures have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies.