Gold complexes are emerging as promising compounds in a range of applications. Synthetic methods for producing these complexes involve multiple steps, the use of reducing agents, inert atmosphere techniques and transmetallation reactions, resulting in contaminated products and low yields. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, a clean, one-pot electrosynthesis method which produces gold(I)-N-heterocyclic carbenes and gold(I)-bis-phosphine by the anodic corrosion of a polycrystalline gold electrode in a solution containing the ligands and the electrolyte. The electrochemical reactions require only electrons and, therefore, the production of the complexes starts from the zero-valent metal, avoiding contamination with other metals, as is the case in transmetallation reactions, or byproducts generated by the use of reducing agents.

金配合物在各种应用中正在成为有希望的化合物。生产这些配合物的合成方法涉及多个步骤，使用还原剂，惰性气氛技术和金属转移反应，导致产品污染和低收率。在这里，我们首次展示了一种清洁的单锅电合成方法，该方法可以生成金（I）-N-杂环卡宾和金（I）-双膦在含有配体和电解质的溶液中对多晶金电极进行阳极腐蚀。电化学反应仅需要电子，因此，络合物的生产从零价金属开始，避免了其他金属的污染（如在金属转移反应中）或通过使用还原剂产生的副产物。