Tethered Polynuclear Copper–Chalcogenolate Assemblies Enabled via NHC Ligation

The polynuclear copper–chalcogenolate complexes, 1,1′-fc­[CH₂ECu­(IPr)]₂ (E = S (1), E = Se (2); fc = ferrocenyl; IPr = 1,3-bis­(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)­imidazol-2-ylidene), [1,4-{CH₂ECu­(IPr)}₂C₆Me₄] (E = S (3), E = Se (4)), and 1,2,4,5-[{(^CyCAAC)­CuSeCH₂}₄(C₆H₂)] 5 (^CyCAAC = cyclic (alkyl)­(amino)­carbene; Cy = cyclohexyl) can be prepared in one-step reactions from the corresponding polychalcogeno­trimethylsilanes fc­(CH₂ESiMe₃)₂/1,4-(Me₃SiECH₂)₂(C₆Me₄)/1,2,4,5-(Me₃SiSeCH₂)₄(C₆H₂) and [(IPr)­CuOAc]/[(^CyCAAC)­CuOAc], respectively. The polychalcogeno­trimethylsilanes react under mild conditions to provide the (NHC/CAAC)­copper–chalcogenolates with trimethylsilylacetate as the side product. The preparation of these complexes represents a straightforward route to incorporate a number of metal chalcogenolate groups onto central organic/organometallic supports. The new complexes 1–5 have been characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.