Straightforward access to chalcogenoureas derived from N-heterocyclic carbenes and their coordination chemistry
Marina Saab, David J. Nelson, Nikolaos V. Tzouras, Tahani A. C. A. Bayrakdar, Steven P. Nolan, Fady Nahra, Kristof Van Hecke
Abstract
Chalcogen-based urea compounds supported by a wide range of N-heterocyclic carbenes are synthesised and fully characterised. Coordination of selenoureas is further explored with Group 11 transition metals to form new copper, gold and silver complexes. Single crystal X-ray analyses unambiguously establish the solid-state coordination of these complexes and show that the geometry of a complex is highly influenced by a combination of electronic properties - mainly π-accepting ability - and steric hindrance of the ligands, as well as the nature of the metal, affording a variety of coordination behaviours. In this report, we investigate these phenomena using several experimental methods.