Tetraphenylarsonium tetraazidoaurate

Clem and Huffman [210] studied the chemical structure of solutions containing Au(III) and azide ions. It was found that a tetraazidoaurate(III) anion, [Au (N3)4]", is formed when the molar ratio of Au(III) to azide is at least 1 to 10. The complex is light sensitive, especially in solution e.g., a tetrahydrofuran solution of the tetraphenylarsonium tetraazidoaurate(III), when exposed to daylight, is quantitatively reduced to the diazidoaurate(I) complex [139] ... 

Beck, W. and Noth, H. (1984) Rontgenstruktur von tetraphenylarsonium-tetraazidoaurat(III). Chemische Berichte, 117, 419 Beck, W., Klapotke, T.M., Kliifers, P., Kramer, G. and Rienacker, C.M. (2001) X-Ray crystal structures and quantum chemical calculations of tetraphenyl-arsonium tetraazidoaurate(III) and azido... 

The tetraphenylarsonium salt of tetraazidoaurate(III) is made from 2.5 mmole potassium chloroaurate, KAuCU, which is dissolved in a small quantity of water. One hundred mmole of sodium azide is added to obtain a red solution. After filtering, tetraphenylarsonium chloride is added to precipitate the orange complex. It is recrystallized from acetone-water, or methylene chloride-hexane mixtures [139]. The colorless tetraphenylarsonium salt of diazidoaurate(I), [Ph4As] [Au (N3)2], is obtained by reacting a suspension of freshly prepared gold monochloride, AuCl (0.2 g = 0.9 mmole), and sodium azide (1.5 g = 23 mmole) in water-wet methylene chloride. Upon addition of... 

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