Orthomercurated and cycloaurated derivatives of the iminophosphorane Ph3Pdouble bond; length as m-dashNPh

Ortho-lithiation of Ph3Pdouble bond; length as m-dashNPh followed by reaction with HgCl2 gave good yields of [Hg{C6H4(PPh2double bond; length as m-dashNPh)-2}Cl], 3, which was characterised spectroscopically and by an X-ray crystal structure determination. This is an isomer of the product of direct mercuration of Ph3Pdouble bond; length as m-dashNPh which occurs on the N-bonded phenyl ring [J. Vicente, J.A. Abad, R. Clemente, J. Lopez-Serrano, M.C. Ramirez de Arellano, P.G. Jones, D. Bautista, Organometallics, 22 (2003) 4248]. Transmetallation of 3 with [AuCl4]− gave the corresponding cycloaurated complex [Au{κ2-C,N-C6H4(PPh2double bond; length as m-dashNPh)-2}Cl2], with a five-membered metallocyclic ring incorporating four different elements.