Can I use a new corporation to buy just the assets I actually want?

Yes, and this is a very common way to structure an asset purchase. Buyers frequently incorporate a new corporation specifically to act as the purchasing entity, so the assets you're acquiring — and any liabilities that come with owning and operating them going forward — sit in a fresh corporate structure separate from your other business interests or personal assets.

The nuance is understanding what the new corporation actually adds. It doesn't change the fundamental principle that an asset purchase generally leaves the seller's undisclosed and unassumed liabilities behind — that protection comes from the transaction being an asset purchase, not from using a newly incorporated buyer. What a new corporation does add is separation: if something goes wrong with this specific acquisition, your other existing corporation, business, or personal assets are generally shielded by ordinary corporate-separateness principles, the same way any properly maintained corporation protects its shareholders.

Setting up the new corporation correctly — proper incorporation, its own bank accounts and records, and being named accurately as the buyer on the purchase agreement — matters for that separation to actually hold up. A business lawyer can set this up alongside structuring the asset purchase itself.