Structural, spectroscopic, and chemical bonding analysis of luminescent bis(diphenylphosphino)methane derived binuclear heteroleptic silver(I) complex of norharmane with argentophilic interaction

Abstract

Silver(I) coordination compounds have a fascinating geometrical diversity, the ability to have different coordination numbers (typically from 2 to 4), and the ability to form argentophilic (Ag∙∙∙Ag) interactions. In this work, a binuclear Ag(I) heteroleptic complex with norharmane ‘β-carboline’ and bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (PP) ligands has been synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. The bonding of Ag(I) coordination and Ag···Ag interaction is explored in depth. The theoretical approaches employed were perturbation theory within the context of the natural bond orbital (NBO) framework, quantum theory of atoms in the molecule (QTAIM), and electron localization function (ELF) analysis.