Gold complexes with methyl iodide

As a final example, the reaction of a binuclear gold ylide complex with methyl iodide afforded (48, 56), a formal gold(II) center having three gold-carbon bonds [Eq. (80)]. 

In 1959, the coordinated mercaptide ion in the gold(III) complex (4) was found to undergo rapid alkylation with methyl iodide and ethyl bromide (e.g. equation 3).9 The reaction has since been used to great effect particularly in nickel(II) (3-mercaptoamine complexes.10,11 It has been demonstrated by kinetic studies that alkylation occurs without dissociation of the sulfur atom from nickel. The binuclear nickel complex (5) underwent stepwise alkylation with methyl iodide, benzyl bromide and substituted benzyl chlorides in second order reactions (equation 4). Bridging sulfur atoms were unreactive, as would be expected. Relative rate data were consistent with SN2 attack of sulfur at the saturated carbon atoms of the alkyl halide. The mononuclear complex (6) yielded octahedral complexes on alkylation (equation 5), but the reaction was complicated by the independent reversible formation of the trinuclear complex (7). Further reactions of this type have been used to form new chelate rings (see Section 7.4.3.1). 

Abdou, H.E., Mohamed, A.A. and Fackler, J.P. Jr (2004) Oxidative addition of methyl iodide to dinuclear Gold(I) amidinate complex schmidbaur s breakthrough reaction revisited with amidinates. ZeitschriJiJurNaturforschungB. A Journal of Chemical Sciences, 59, 1480-1482. 

---