A general method for metallocluster site-differentiation.

The deployment of metalloclusters in applications such as catalysis and materials synthesis requires robust methods for site-differentiation: the conversion of clusters with symmetric ligand spheres to those with unsymmetrical ligand spheres. However, imparting precise patterns of site-differentiation is challenging because, compared with mononuclear complexes, the ligands bound to clusters exert limited spatial and electronic influence on one another. Here, we report a method that employs sterically encumbering ligands to bind to only a subset of a cluster's coordination sites.