New approach to the synthesis of trinuclear gold(I) imidazolate complexes and their silver(I)-induced photoluminiscent behavior

New trinuclear gold(I) N-arylimidazolate cluster complexes have been synthetized from cationic [Au(CNR)2]+ isocyanide complexes and the structure and photoluminiscent behavior compared with those of the 1-methylimidazolate counterpart. A drastic change in the photophysical properties is observed upon coordination of the Ag+ cation.