Syntheses and luminescence studies of mixed-metal gold(I) copper(I) and -silver(I) alkynyl complexes.: The "turning-on" of emission upon d10 metal ion encapsulation

Reaction of the gold(I) alkynyl precursor complexes, [(R3P)Au{C=CC(=CH2)Me}] (R = Ph 1, p-Tol 2) and [(mu-dppf)-Au-2{C=CC(=CH2)Me}(2)] 3, with copper(.) or silver(.) ions led to the formation of a series of luminescent eta(2)-alkynyl mixed-metal complexes, [{eta(2)-(R3P)Au{C=CC(=CH2)Me}}(2)Cu]PF6 (R = Ph 4, p-Tol 5) and [(mu-dppf)Au-2{eta(2)-C=CC-(=CH2)Me}(2)M]X (M = Cu, X = PF6 6; M = Ag, X = OTf 7). The X-ray crystal structures of 1 and 3 have been determined. The photophysical properties of the complexes have been investigated. Coordination of 1-3 as metalloligands to copper(I) and silver(I) ions to afford the respective complexes 4-7 has been demonstrated to be a versatile means to perturb the emission properties. The luminescence behaviour of 3 has been "turned on" upon copper(I) or silver(I) encapsulation in 6 and 7.