Communication: In search of four-atom chiral metal clusters.

A combined study utilizing anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory was conducted to search for four-atom, chiral, metal, and mostly metal clusters. The clusters considered were AuCoMnBi(-/0), AlAuMnO(-/0), AgMnOAl(-/0), and AuAlPtAg(-/0), where the superscripts, (-/0), refer to anionic and neutral cluster species, respectively. Based on the agreement of experimentally and theoretically determined values of both electron affinities and vertical detachment energies, the calculated cluster geometries were validated and examined for chirality. Among both anionic and neutral clusters, five structures were identified as being chiral.