A Sixteen-Membered Au 8 P 8 Macrocycle Based on Gold(I) and Diphospha(III)guanidine.

The reaction of cyclo-P(4)Mes(4)C(NCy) (1) with two equivalents of [AuCl(tht)] (tht=tetrahydrothiophene) resulted in the formation of unusual sixteen-membered Au-P macrocycle 2. This macrocycle contains diphospha(III) guanidinate as a coordinating ligand, which is formed by P-P bond cleavage of 1. Macrocycle 2 was characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography.