Organo(organooxo)mercury(II) chemistry — Synthesis and structure of methyl(phenoxo)mercury(II)

Abstract

Methyl(phenoxo)mercury(II), i.e. methylmercury phenoxide, may be obtained from the reaction of methyl(chloro)mercury(II) with silver(I) oxide, followed by addition of phenol. The dominant motif of the structure is a pair of independent MeHgOPh aggregates (Hg—C,O 2.05(2) Å, 2.06(1) Å (x2); C-Hg-O 176.6(5)°, 176.3(5)°) loosely associated about a quasi-inversion centre by Hg···O interactions (2.702(9) Å, 2.719(9) Å) to form a dimer (Hg-O-Hg′ 106.0(4)°, 106.5(4)°; O-Hg-O′ 73.0(3)°, 72.6(3)°), the dimer stacking up the short crystallographic c axis (= 6.914(1) Å) at spacings c/2. Vibrational spectroscopic studies are insensitive to the associative interactions.