Ultrastable hydrido gold nanoclusters with the protection of phosphines.

Authors :: Yuan, Shang-Fu
Li, Jiao-Jiao
Guan, Zong-Jie
Lei, Zhen
Wang, Quan-Ming
Source :: Chemical Communications; 6/28/2020, Vol. 56 Issue 51, p7037-7040, 4p
Publication Year :: 2020
Abstract: The identification of hydride(s) in gold nanoclusters is a challenging task, due to the instability of gold nanoclusters containing hydrides. Herein, we report two ultrastable hydrido gold nanoclusters protected by phosphine ligands: [Au<subscript>20</subscript>(PPh<subscript>3</subscript>)<subscript>12</subscript>H<subscript>3</subscript>](SbF<subscript>6</subscript>)<subscript>3</subscript> (1<subscript>H</subscript>) and [Au<subscript>20</subscript>(PPh<subscript>3</subscript>)<subscript>12</subscript>H<subscript>2</subscript>(2-COOH-PhS)](PF<subscript>6</subscript>)<subscript>3</subscript> (2<subscript>H</subscript>). The presence of hydrides in gold(0)–gold(I) nanoclusters is clearly demonstrated by ESI mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Single crystal structural determination reveals that both nanoclusters have an unprecedented Au<subscript>20</subscript> core consisting of a Au<subscript>9</subscript> unit and a Au<subscript>11</subscript> unit. Such cores derived from the connection of different basic units are important for understanding the evolution and stability of metal nanoclusters. The hydride (H<superscript>−</superscript>) was also verified by a charge distribution calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]