Gold carbonyl cations and beyond: homoleptic gold(I) complexes with P₄ and P₄S₃ and the half-sandwich cation [Au(C₆H₆)(CO)]

Oxidation of Au⁰ with the synergistic Ag^(+)/0.5 I(2) system in the commercial organic solvent 1,2,3,4-tetrafluorobenzene led to the perfluoroalkoxyaluminate salt of the [Au(CO)(2)]^(+) cation known from superacid chemistry. This [Au(CO)(2)]^(+) salt proved to be an excellent ‘naked’ Au^(+)-synthon yielding complex salts with [Au(η²-P(4))(2)]^(+), [Au(η¹-P(4)S(3))(2)]^(+) and half-sandwich [Au(η²-C(6)H(6))(CO)]^(+) …