Photooxidation of Dicyanoaurate(I) Induced by Metal-to-Ligand Charge Transfer Excitation

Transfer Excitation Horst Kunkely, Arnd Vogler* Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany Z. Naturforsch. 53 b, 853–855 (1998); received April 12, 1998 Photochemistry, Charge Transfer, Gold Complexes, Cyanide Complexes The irradiation of [Au(CN)2] in oxygen-saturated acetonitrile leads to photooxidation of Au(I). In the presence of additional chloride [Au(CN)2Cl2] is formed with = 0.5 x 10 4 at irr = 254 nm. It is assumed that [Au(CN)2] in its metal-to-ligand charge transfer state undergoes an excited state electron transfer to oxygen in the primary photochemical step.