A cavity-shaped linear gold(I) hydroxide complex acts
as a platform
to access unusual gold monomeric species. Notably, this sterically
crowded gold fragment enables the trapping of CO2via insertion
into Au–OH and Au–NH bonds to form unprecedented monomeric
gold(I) carbonate and carbamate complexes. In addition, we succeeded
in the identification of the first gold(I) terminal hydride bearing
a phosphine ligand. The basic nature of the Au(I)-hydroxide moiety
is also explored through the reactivity toward other molecules containing
acidic protons such as trifluoromethanesulfonic acid and terminal
alkynes.