A living library concept to capture the dynamics and reactivity of mixed-metal clusters for catalysis.

The exploration of ligated metal clusters' chemical space is challenging, partly owing to an insufficiently targeted access to reactive clusters. Now, dynamic mixtures of clusters, defined as living libraries, are obtained through organometallic precursor chemistry. The libraries are populated with interrelated clusters, including transient and highly reactive ones, as well as more accessible but less reactive species.

Hydride-containing Ag- and Au-rich 8-electron superatomic icosahedral cores: a DFT investigation.

Following several reports on ligand-protected atom-precise nanoclusters which encapsulate hydrides as interstitial dopants within their icosahedral core, the stability, structure and bonding of MH@Ag and MH@Au (M = Mo-Ag; W-Au) 8-electron cores is investigated through DFT calculations. The encapsulation of up to = 3 hydrides appears to be possible but at the cost of substantial structural distortions. In most of the computed models, the hydrides are found nearly free to move inside their icosahedral cages.

Sulfide-mediated growth of NIR luminescent Pd/Ag atomically precise nanoclusters.

An essential feature of coinage metal nanoclusters (NCs) is their photoluminescence (PL), which spans a wide range of wavelengths from visible to near-infrared regions (NIR-I/II). A key challenge for synthetic chemists is to develop materials capable of efficient spectral change with maximum efficiency. Herein, we report novel dithiolate-protected bimetallic Pd-Ag NCs of the type [PdAgS{SP(OR)}] (R = Pr, 1Pr and Bu, 1Bu) and [PdAgS{SP(OBu)}] (2Bu).

Cuboctahedral Pd as a spherical aromatic noble metal core: insights from a ligand-protected [Pd(Tr)] cluster.

Low-valent palladium nanoparticles are efficient species promoting catalytic activity and selectivity in a number of chemical reactions. Recently, an atom-centered cuboctahedral Pd motif has been characterized as a ligand-protected [Pd(Tr)] cluster featuring a 1s superatomic shell structure. In this report, we describe the ligand-cluster of and endohedral-cage interaction in [Pd(Tr)], which accounts for a favorable situation in the overall cluster.