Proximity Enforced Agostic Interactions Involving Closed-Shell Coinage Metal Ions

A proximity enforcing diarylsilane ligand is reported, which gives rise to unusual Si–H···M interactions with the d10 metal ions Cu+ and Ag+ upon complexation. These interactions are studied in detail both experimentally and computationally and can be classified to be weakly agostic in nature for the Si–H···Cu interaction. The Si–H···Ag interaction has more signatures of an electrostatic contact.