Crystal structure and synthesis of the bis(anthracene)dicuprate dianion as the dipotassium salt, [K(tetrahydrofuran) 2 ] 2 [{Cu(9,10-η 2 -anthracene)} 2 ], the first anionic arene complex of copper.

Reactions of (tricyclohexylphosphane)copper(I) chloride with two equivalents of potassium anthracene (KAn) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at 200 K provides air-sensitive but thermally stable (at 293 K) solutions from which yellow crystalline blocks of bis[bis(tetrahydrofuran-κO)potassium] bis(μ-anthracene-κ2 C9 :C10 )dicopper, [K(THF)2 ]2 [{Cu(9,10-η2 -C14 H10 )}2 ] or [K(C4 H8 O)2 ]2 [Cu2 (C14 H10 )2 ], 1, were isolated in about 50% yield. Single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis of 1 confirmed the presence of the first known (arene)cuprate. Also, unlike all previously known homoleptic (anthracene)metallates of d-block elements, which contain metals coordinated only to terminal rings, the organocuprate unit in 1 contains copper bound to the 9,10-carbons of the central ring of anthracene. No other d- or f-block metal is known to afford an anthracene or other aromatic hydrocarbon complex having the architecture of organodicuprate 1.