Highly Stable [C60AuC60]+/– Dumbbells

Ionic complexes between gold and C 60 have been observed for the first time. Cations and anions of the type [Au(C 60 ) 2 ] +/- are shown to have particular stability. Calculations suggest that these ions adopt a C 60 -Au-C 60 sandwich-like (dumbbell) structure, which is reminiscent of [XAuX] +/- ions previously observed for much smaller ligands. The [Au(C 60 ) 2 ] +/- ions can be regarded as Au(I) complexes, regardless of whether the net charge is positive or negative, but in both cases, the charge transfer between the Au and C 60 is incomplete, most likely because of a covalent contribution to the Au-C 60 binding. The C 60 -Au-C 60 dumbbell structure represents a new architecture in fullerene chemistry that might be replicable in synthetic nanostructures.