 Triphenylphosphinegold(I) chloride is a popular stable precursor for a cationic gold(I) catalyst used in organic synthesis.Typically, it is treated with silver(I) salts of weakly coordinating anions (e.g., X– = SbF6–, BF4–, TfO–, or Tf2N–) to generate a weakly bound Ph3PAu–X complex, in equilibrium with the catalytically-active species [Ph3PAu]+X– in solution.Among these, only the bistriflimide complex Ph3PAuNTf2 can be isolated as the pure compound.