Tetra-μ3-iodido-tetrakis[(tri-n-butylphosphane-κP)copper(I)]

Tetrameric phosphane complexes of copper(I) halides are extensively used as reagents for copper-mediated conjugate additions. Furthermore, theoretical interest stems from the fact that all group 11 elements in the oxidation state +1 are prone to form clusters with potential metal-metal distances. Thus, theoretical work on such complexes (XCuPR3)4 has been carried out to study structures and stabilities in detail. However, the plethora of structural information on these compounds came from X-ray crystal structure analyses. Although the known tri-n-butyl phosphane complex [n-Bu3PCuI]4 had already been characterized by using X-ray crystallography, no atomic coordinates, bond lengths or bond angles were reported. Thus, we reinvestigated the crystal structure of [n-Bu3PCuI]4. We were able to confirm the previously postulated tetrameric complex with a distorted heterocubane structure similar to the AsEt3 derivative.