Selective formation of [Au(SPh Bu)], [AuPd(SPh Bu)] and [AuPt(SCHPh)(SPh Bu)] by controlling ligand-exchange reaction.

To use atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) in various application fields, it is essential to establish size-selective synthesis methods for the metal NCs. Studies on thiolate (SR)-protected gold NCs (Au (SR) NCs) revealed that the atomically precise Au (SR) NC, which has a different chemical composition from the precursor, can be synthesized size-selectively by inducing transformation in the framework structure of the metal NCs by a ligand-exchange reaction. In this study, we selected the reaction of [Au(SCHPh)] (SCHPh = 2-phenylethanethiolate) with 4--butylbenzenethiol ( BuPhSH) as a model ligand-exchange reaction and attempted to obtain new metal NCs by changing the amount of thiol, the central atom of the precursor NCs, or the reaction time from previous studies.

One-, Two-, and Three-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Atomically Precise Metal Nanoclusters.

Metal nanoclusters (NCs), which consist of several, to about one hundred, metal atoms, have attracted much attention as functional nanomaterials for use in nanotechnology. Because of their fine particle size, metal NCs exhibit physical/chemical properties and functions different from those of the corresponding bulk metal. In recent years, many techniques to precisely synthesize metal NCs have been developed.