Reaction between palladium(II) and gallium(III) halogenides in arenes: influence of halogen nature on the formation of binuclear palladium(I) clusters

Palladium(II) bromide reacts with gallium(III) bromide in the presence of arenes yielding binuclear palladium(I) complexes [Pd2(GaBr4)2(arene)2], where arene=benzene (1), toluene (2) and p-xylene (3). Reaction of palladium(II) chloride with gallium(III) chloride in p-xylene leads to the analogous palladium(I) compound [Pd2(GaCl4)2(p-xylene)2] (4); the X-ray structures of 1–4 were determined.