“…NHC*-Ag-OAc (SBC3) (Patil et al, 2011;Streciwilk et al, 2014;, which combine synthesis from a commercially available precursor (4,5-diphenylimidazole) with high antimicrobial activity in vitro (Sharkey et al, 2012) and in vivo (Browne et al 2014). In the homologue gold series, the introduction of pseudohalide anions led to stable and bioactive compounds (Dada et al, 2017). In this context, the attempted syntheses of the analogous NHC*-Ag I and -Cu I thio-and selenocyanates as potential antimicrobial species led to unexpected results with the formation of bis[bis(1,3-dibenzyl-4,5-diphenylimidazol-2ylidene)silver(I)] tris(thiocyanato)argentate(I) diethyl ether disolvate, (1), bis(-1,3-dibenzyl-4,5-diphenyl-2-selenoimidazole-2 Se:Se)bis[bromido(1,3-dibenzyl-4,5-diphenyl-2-selenoimidazole-Se)silver(I)] dichloromethane hexasolvate, (2), and catena-poly [[[(1,3-dibenzyl-4,5-diphenyl-2-selenoimidazole-Se)copper(I)]--cyanido-2 C:N] acetonitrile monosolvate], {[Cu(CN)(C 29 H 24 N 2 Se)]ÁC 2 H 3 N} n or NHC*Se-CuCNÁCH 3 CN, (3), the crystal structures of which are reported in this communication.…”