Gold aurophilic interaction

Olmstead, M.M., Jiang, F., Attar, S. and Balch, A.L. (2001) Alteration of the aurophilic interactions in trimeric Gold(I) compounds through charge transfer, behavior of solvoluminescent Au3(MeN=COMe)3 in the presence of electron acceptors. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 123, 3260. 

Besides this, the remarkable properties of gold(I) compounds, which often give rise to aurophilic interactions and/or to luminescence, are of interest when these properties are transported into the liquid crystal field. Although there is much still to be studied, it is already clear that luminescence can survive in the condensed but mobile state of a mesophase, and even in the isotropic liquid state of a molten gold compound. It also seems that aurophilicity can contribute in some cases to the formation of mesophases. 

These were found to have a particularly rich coordination chemistry, because the close proximity of the two gold atoms leads to significant transannular aurophilic interactions, facilitating, for example, the stoichiometric oxidation to compounds with a transannular Au-Au bond with the metal atoms in the rare Au(ii) state (Scheme >9).2,166,168... 

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