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The unexpected but facile preparation of the silver salt of the least coordinating [(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3]- anion (R=C(CF3)3) by reaction of Ag[Al(OR)4] with one equivalent of PCl3 is described. The mechanism of the formation of Ag[(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3] is explained based on the available experimental data as well as on quantum chemical calculations with the inclusion of entropy and COSMO solvation enthalpies. The crystal structures of (RO)3Al--OC4H8, Cs+[(RO)2(Me)Al-F-Al(Me)(OR)2]-, Ag(CH2Cl2)3+[(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3]- and Ag(eta2-P4)2+[(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3]- are described. From the collected data it will be shown that the [(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3]- anion is the least coordinating anion currently known. With respect to the fluoride ion affinity of two parent Lewis acids Al(OR)3 of 685 kJ mol(-1), the ligand affinity (441 kJ mol(-1)), the proton and copper decomposition reactions (-983 and -297 kJ mol(-1)) as well as HOMO level and HOMO-LUMO gap and in comparison with [Sb4F21]-, [Sb(OTeF5)6]-, [Al(OR)4]- as well as [B(R(F))4]- (R(F)=CF3 or C6F5) the [(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3]- anion is among the best weakly coordinating anions (WCAs) according to each value. In contrast to most of the other cited anions, the [(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3] anion is available by a simple preparation in conventional inorganic laboratories. The least coordinating character of this anion was employed to clarify the question of the ground state geometry of the Ag(eta2-P4)2+ cation (D(2h), D(2) or D(2d)?). In agreement with computational data and NMR spectra it could be shown that the rotation along the Ag-(P-P-centroid) vector has no barrier and that the structure adopted in the solid state depends on packing effects which lead to an almost D(2h) symmetric Ag(eta2-P4)2+ cation (0 to 10.6 degrees torsion) for the more symmetrical [Al(OR)4]- anion, but to a D2 symmetric Ag(eta2-P4)2+ cation with a 44 degrees twist angle of the two AgP2 planes for the less symmetrical [(RO)3Al-F-Al(OR)3]- anion. This implies that silver back bonding, suggested by quantum chemical population analyses to be of importance, is only weak.

Good quality ab initio calculations (MP2) show that the water adducts of BX(3) and CX(3)(+) have totally different structures (X = F-I). While all H(2)O-BX(3) complexes have classical C(s) symmetric structures with strong B-O bonds and additional H-bonding, the heavier CX(3)(+) cations (X = Cl-I) form weakly bonded "non-classical" water adducts that maximize C-X pi-bonding rather than C-O sigma-bonding. The delocalization of the positive charge as the driving force for pi-bond formation is absent in BX(3), and therefore, pi-bonding is only weak and not structure determining in H(2)O-BX(3). Since the PES of all H(2)O --EX(3)(0/+1) particles (E = B, C) is very flat, flexible basis sets (like TZVPP) are required to rigorously characterize the adducts. In earlier calculations (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 6648), classical structures were reported for all H(2)O --EX(3)(0/+1) (E = B, C) complexes, likely resulting from the insufficient quality of the basis sets employed. By introducing a positive charge to three coordinate boron-halogen cations Do --BX(2)(+) (Do = NH(3), OH(2), X-H), also the B-X bonds shrink due to the stronger pi-bonding induced by the positive charge delocalization and if compared to the respective neutral compounds like H(2)N-BX(2) or BX(3). The "non-classical" water adducts also suggest that the mechanism of organic reactions involving carbenium ion intermediates with alpha-bromine or -iodine substituents and a nucleophile may proceed through halogen- rather than carbon coordination.

Is there anything resembling a truly noncoordinating anion? Would it not be great to be able to prepare any crazy, beautiful, or simply useful cationic species that one has in mind, or has detected by mass spectroscopy? In condensed phases the target cation has to be partnered with a suitable counteranion. This is the moment when difficulties arise and many wonderful ideas end in the sink owing to coordination or decomposition of the anion. However, maybe these counteranion problems can be overcome by one of the new weakly coordinating anions (WCAs). Herein is an overview on the available candidates in the quest for the least coordinating anion and a summary of new applications, available starting materials, and general strategies to introduce a WCA into a system. Some of the unusual properties of WCA salts such as high solubility in low dielectric media, pseudo gas-phase conditions in condensed phases, and the stabilization of weakly bound and low-charged complexes are rationalized on thermodynamic grounds. Limits of the WCAs, that is, anion coordination and decomposition, are shown and a quantum chemical analysis of all types of WCAs is presented which allows the choice of a particular WCA to be based on quantitative data from a wide range of different anions.

Prepn. of the title compd. (I) from starting materials CI4 and Ag[Al{OC(CF3)3}4](II) was performed with the complete exclusion of light and with carefully purified diiodine-free CI4, since CI4 decomps. within minutes in soln. in light with formation of I2 and other carbon iodides, and II reacts immediately with I2 to give yet unidentified decompn. products. With these precautions I was prepd. in quant. yield. According to calcns. at the MP2/TZVPP level and estn. of the sublimation and lattice enthalpies in a suitable cycle, we est. that the reaction is exothermic by -33 kJmol-1 in the gas phase and by -127 kJmol-1 in the solid state. In CH2Cl2 soln., I is dark blood red and in situ NMR reactions show only resonance signals for the CI3+ ion (d(13C)= 97 ppm; in SO2ClF: d(13C) = 95 ppm; calcd. value: d(13C) = 106 ppm) and the anion (d(13C) = 121.5 ppm (q); d(27A1)= 38.0 ppm). A CH2Cl2 soln. of I is stable for about 8 to 12 h at ambient temp. and much longer if stored at -30 or -78 DegC. Single crystals that appeared yellow as thin plates but black when thicker were grown at -78 DegC from cooled concd. CH2Cl2 solns. of I. The crystal structure detn. of a dark orthorhombic block of I showed that it contained isolated trigonal-planar CI3+ ions with a sum of I-C-I bond angles of 360.0 Deg (range: 118.8-122.1 Deg0) and Al{OC(CF3)3}4 ions. [on SciFinder (R)]

We have designed and synthesized highly efficient organic sensitizers with a planar thienothiophene-vinylene-thienothiophene linker. Under standard global AM 1.5 solar conditions, the JK-113-sensitized cell gave a short circuit photocurrent density (J(sc)) of 17.61 mA cm(-2), an open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.71 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 72%, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency (eta) of 9.1%. The incident monochromatic photo-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of JK-113 exceeds 80% over the spectral region from 400 to 640 nm, reaching its maximum of 93% at 475 nm. The band tails off toward 770 nm, contributing to the broad spectral light harvesting. Solar-cell devices based on the sensitizer JK-113 in conjunction with a volatile electrolyte and a solvent-free ionic liquid electrolyte gave high conversion efficiencies of 9.1% and 7.9%, respectively. The JK-113-based solar cell fabricated using a solvent-free ionic liquid electrolyte showed excellent stability under light soaking at 60 degrees C for 1000 h.

In this study, we investigated the tetraalkylammonium salts of the weakly coordinating fluorinated alkoxyaluminates [pftb](-) ([Al(O(C(CF(3))(3))(4)](-)), [hfip](-) ([Al(OC(H)(CF(3))(2))(4)](-)) and [hftb](-) ([Al(OC(CH(3))(CF(3))(2))(4)](-)) in order to obtain information on their undisturbed spectral and structural properties, as well as to study their electrochemical behavior (i.e., conductivities in non-polar solvents and electrochemical windows). Several of the compounds qualify as ionic liquids with melting points as low as 42 degrees C for [NBu(4)](+)[hfip](-). Simple and almost quantitative metathesis reactions yielding these materials in high purity were developed. These [NR(4)](+) salts serve as model compounds for undisturbed anions and their vibrational spectra--together with simulated spectra based on quantum chemical DFT calculations--were used for the clear assignment of the anion bands. Besides, the ion volumes of the anions (V(ion)([pftb](-)) = 0.736 nm(3), V(ion)([hftb](-)) = 0.658 nm(3), V(ion)([hfip](-)) = 0.577 nm(3)) and their decomposition pathways in the mass spectrometric measurements have been established. The salts are highly soluble in non-polar solvents (up to 1.09 mol L(-1) are possible for [NBu(4)](+)[hftb](-) in CH(2)Cl(2) and 0.41 mol L(-1) for [NBu(4)](+)[hfip](-) in CHCl(3)) and show higher molar conductivities if compared to [NBu(4)](+)[PF(6)](-). The electrochemical windows of CH(2)Cl(2), CH(3)CN and 1,2-F(2)C(6)H(4) using the [NBu(4)](+) aluminate electrolytes are up to +0.5 V/-0.7 V larger than those using the standard [NBu(4)](+)[PF(6)](-).

PX(4) (+)[Al(OR)(4)](-) (X=I: 1 a, X=Br: 1 b) was prepared from X(2), PX(3), and Ag[Al(OR)(4)] [R=C(CF(3))(3)] in CH(2)Cl(2) at -30 degrees C in 69-86 % yield. P(2)X(5) (+) salts were prepared from 2 PX(3) and Ag[Al(OR)(4)] in CH(2)Cl(2) at -30 degrees C yielding almost quantitatively P(2)X(5) (+)[Al(OR)(4)](-) (X=I: 3 a, X=Br: 3 b). The phosphorus-rich P(5)X(2) (+) salts arose from the reaction of cold (-78 degrees C) mixtures of PX(3), P(4), and Ag[Al(OR)(4)] giving P(5)X(2) (+)[Al(OR)(4)](-) (X=I: 4 a, X=Br: 4 b) with a C(2v)-symmetric P(5) cage. Silver salt metathesis presumably generated unstable PX(2) (+) cations from PX(3) and Ag[Al(OR)(4)] (X=Br, I) that acted as electrophilic carbene analogues and inserted into the Xbond;X (Pbond;X/Pbond;P) bond of X(2) (PX(3)/P(4)) leading to the highly electrophilic and CH(2)Cl(2)-soluble PX(4) (+) (P(2)X(5) (+)/P(5)X(2) (+)) salts. Reactions that aimed to synthesize P(2)I(3) (+) from P(2)I(4) and Ag[Al(OR)(4)] instead led to anion decomposition and the formation of P(2)I(5)(CS(2))(+)[(RO)(3)Al-F-Al(OR)(3)](-) (5). All salts were characterized by variable-temperature solution NMR studies (3 b also by (31)P MAS NMR), Raman and/or IR spectroscopy as well as X-ray crystallography (with the exception of 4 a). The thermochemical volumes of the Pbond;X cations are 121 (PBr(4) (+)), 161 (PI(4) (+)), 194 (P(2)Br(5) (+)), 271 (P(2)I(5) (+)), and 180 A(3) (P(5)Br(2) (+)). The observed reactions were fully accounted for by thermochemical calculations based on (RI-)MP2/TZVPP ab initio results and COSMO solvation enthalpy calculations (CH(2)Cl(2) solution). The enthalpies of formation of the gaseous Pbond;X cations were derived as +764 (PI(4) (+)), +617 (PBr(4) (+)), +749 (P(2)I(5) (+)), +579 (P(2)Br(5) (+)), +762 (P(5)I(2) (+)), and +705 kJ mol(-1) (P(5)Br(2) (+)). The insertion of the intermediately prepared carbene analogue PX(2) (+) cations into the respective bonds were calculated, at the (RI-)MP2/TZVPP level, to be exergonic at 298 K in CH(2)Cl(2) by Delta(r)G(CH(2)Cl(2))=-133.5 (PI(4) (+)), -183.9 (PBr(4) (+)), -106.5 (P(2)I(5) (+)), -81.5 (P(2)Br(5) (+)), -113.2 (P(5)I(2) (+)), and -114.5 kJ mol(-1) (P(5)Br(2) (+)).

The metathesis reaction of Ag[(RO)3Al—F—Al(OR)3] and n-Bu4NBr in CH2Cl2 yields nearly quanti­tatively n-Bu4N+.[(RO)3Al—F—Al(OR)3]− [with R = C(CF3)3)] or (C16H36N)[Al2(C4F9O)6F]. In the asymmetric unit, two entire cations and four half-anions (one is disordered over two positions) are found. The intra­molecular distances are comparable to those found in other n-Bu4N+ or [(RO)3Al—F—Al(OR)3]− salts. Only weak inter­actions outside the sum of the van der Waals radii [r(F + H) = 2.6 A] are found between the cations and anions. The title compound is considerably soluble in CH2Cl2, which makes this salt a possible candidate as supporting electrolyte for electrochemical applications in nonpolar solvents. In addition, the [(RO)3Al—F—Al(OR)3]− anion is very stable against oxidation. Two CF3 groups of one anion are disordered over two positions; the site occupancy ratios are 0.64:0.36 and 0.78:0.22.

Insertion of the intermediately formed carbene-analogous PX24 ion (X = Br, I) into one of the P-P bonds of the P4 tetrahedron led to the P5X2+ ion - the 1st example of the previously unknown class of phosphorus-rich binary P-X cations. The crystal structure of [P5Br2]+[Al{OC(CF3)3}]- was detd. and mol. structure calcns. were performed on both the bromide and iodide analogs. [on SciFinder (R)]

This article describes BP86/SV(P) (DFT) calculations on a representative set of weakly coordinating anions (WCAs) of type [M(L)n]-, their parent neutral Lewis acids M(L)(n-1) and their ate complexes with fluoride, that is, [FM(L)(n)](n-1) (M=B, L=F, OTeF5, C6H5, C6F5, C6H3(CF3)2, CF3; M=P, As, Sb, L=F, OTeF5; M=Al, L=OC(CF3)3). Compounds with fluoride bridges, that is, Sb(n)F(5n) and [Sb(n)F(5n+1)]- (n=2, 3, 4), Al2(L)5F and [(L)3Al-F-Al(L)3]- (L=OC(CF3)3), (F4C6[1,2-B(L)2]2, [F4C6[1,2-B(L)2]2F]-, [F4C6[1,2-B(L)2]2OMe]- (L=C6F5) were also calculated. Based on these BP86/SV(P) and auxiliary MP2/TZVPP, G2, and CBS-Q calculations the relative stabilities and coordinating abilities of these WCAs were established with regard to the fluoride ion affinities (FIA) of the parent Lewis acids, the ligand affinity (LA) of the WCAs, the decomposition of a given WCA in the presence of a hard (H+, proton decomposition PD) and a soft electrophile (Cu+, copper decomposition CuD), the position of the HOMO, the HOMO-LUMO gap, and population analyses of the anions providing partial charges for all atoms. To obtain data that is more reliable, the assessed quantities were calculated through isodesmic reactions. If parts of the calculations could not be done isodesmically, higher levels such as MP2/TZVPP, G2, and CBS-Q were used to obtain reliable values for these reactions. Although the obtained results can not be taken as absolute, the relative ordering of the stabilities of all WCAs will undoubtedly be correct, since a single methodology was chosen for the investigation. To include media effects the decomposition reactions of a subset of 14 WCAs with the SiMe3+ and [Cp2ZrMe]+ ions were also calculated in PhCl and 1,2-F2C6H4 (COSMO solvation model). We found that in most cases gas-phase calculations and solution calculations give comparable results for the stability of the anion. Applications of the LA and FIA that allow one to decide, on thermodynamic grounds, which WCA or Lewis acid is the most suitable for a given problem are sketched.