Grow slow: The usual direct treatment of MeLi and CuSPh did not yield X-ray quality crystals of MeCu(SPh)Li. An indirect method starting from Me2CuLi⋅LiSPh and chalcone afforded the desired crystals by the slow reaction of the intermediate π-complex (see scheme). This strategy produced the first X-ray crystal structure of a Posner cuprate. A complementary NMR study showed that the contact ion pair was also the main species in solution.
Keywords: NMR spectroscopy; S ligands; X-ray diffraction; aggregation; cuprates.
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