Gold carbonyl cations and beyond: homoleptic gold(I) complexes with P and PS and the half-sandwich cation [Au(CH)(CO)].

Oxidation of Au with the synergistic Ag/0.5 I system in the commercial organic solvent 1,2,3,4-tetrafluorobenzene led to the perfluoroalkoxyaluminate salt of the [Au(CO)] cation known from superacid chemistry. This [Au(CO)] salt proved to be an excellent 'naked' Au-synthon yielding complex salts with [Au(η-P)], [Au(η-PS)] and half-sandwich [Au(η-CH)(CO)] cation.