Crystal and molecular structure of polymeric MeSHgO₂CMe and MeSHgO₂CMe, C₅H₅N and the tetranuclear complex (Bu^tS)₄Cl₄Hg₄(C₅H₅N)₂

Crystals of methanethiolatomercury(II) acetate are monoclinic, P 2₁/c, with a 5•292(2), b 15•912(7), c 7•086(2) Å, β 92•96(3)°, Z 4, and its pyridine complex MeSHgO2CMe, C₅H₅N is monoclinic, P2₁/n, with a 10•093(3), b 7•026(2), c 15•350(5) Å, β 105•01(3)°, Z 4. Both structures are based on a polymeric chain (-Hg-SMe-)_n with coordinated acetate groups. In MeSHgO₂CMe the chains are linked into sheets by bridging acetate groups, and in the pyridine complex the chains are isolated with pyridine and acetate coordination at each mercury. Crystals of (Bu^tS)₄Cl₄Hg(C₅H₅N)₂ are triclinic, P1, with a 14•399(6), b 9•893(6), c 9•597(5) Å, α 121•82(1), β 102•52(4), y 102•94(4)°, and Z 1. The structure is based on a tetranuclear grouping of mercury atoms bridged by chloride and thiolate species and centrosymmetric about the origin. There are two mercury environments ‘Hg(μ-SBu^t) ₂C1N’ and ‘Hg(μ-SBu^t)2(μ-Cl)₂’ with the dichloro bridge linking two equivalent mercury atoms on opposite sides of an (-Hg-SBu¹-)₄ ring.