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The structural characterization and physical properties of [Cp*M(pentalene)M'Cp*]"+ (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadiene; M, M' = Fe, Fe (la); Co, Co (lb); Ni, Ni (lc); Ru, Ru (Id); Fe, Ru (le); Fe, Co (If); n = 0, 1,2) and [Cp*M(s-indacene)M'Cp*]"+ (s = symmetric) and [Cp*M(as-indacene)M'Cp*]"+ (M, M' = Fe, Fe (2a, 3a); Co, Co (2b, 3b); Ni, Ni (2c, 3c); n = 0, 1, 2) (as = asymmetric) are reported. The local molecular structure of the organometallic complex does not change significantly with oxidation state; in all cases the Cp*M moieties reside on opposite faces of the fused ^-bridging ring systems, reflecting the dominance of steric effects. These complexes generally exhibit behavior consistent with significant electronic interactions between metal centers, including large electrochemical potential separations between successive one-electron redox events, and for the mixed valent (n = 1+) complexes, intervalent charge transfer absorption bands. The magnetic susceptibility data are consistent with intramolecular ferromagnetic coupling of spins for la2+ and 2c2+ and antiferromagnetic coupling of spins for lc, lc2+, lb, 2b, lc+, 2c+, and 3c+. In general, the paramagnetic complexes exhibit Curie-Weiss behavior, except for 2c and 3c, which possess singlet ground states and high spin excited states that are 0.036 and 0.056 eV (290 and 524 cm"1) above the ground state, respectively. Mixed-valent la+ and 2a+ are fully detrapped on the Mossbauer time scale (i.e., electron transfer rates >107 s-1) above 1.5 K, consistent with a negligible energy barrier to intramolecular electron transfer or complete delocalization. The EPR spectra of la+, 2a+, and le+ exhibit significantly reduced g-factor ansiotropies and more intense spectral features at ambient temperature compared to [FeCp*2]*+, implying intramolecular electron transfer rates >1010 s_1.

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To be able to control the functions of engineered multicomponent nanomaterials, a detailed understanding of heterogeneous nucleation at the nanoscale is essential. Here, by using in situ synchrotron X-ray scattering, we show that in the heterogeneous nucleation and growth of Au on Pt or Pt-alloy seeds the heteroepitaxial growth of the Au shell exerts high stress (∼2 GPa) on the seed by forming a core/shell structure in the early stage of the reaction. The development of lattice strain and subsequent strain relaxation, which we show using atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy to occur through the slip of {111} layers, induces morphological changes from a core/shell to a dumbbell structure, and governs the nucleation and growth kinetics. We also propose a thermodynamic model for the nucleation and growth of dumbbell metallic heteronanostructures.

We systematically investigated the role of surface modification of nanoparticles catalyst in alkyne hydrogenation reactions and proposed the general explanation of effect of surface ligands on the selectivity and activity of Pt and Co/Pt nanoparticles (NPs) using experimental and computational approaches. We show that the proper balance between adsorption energetics of alkenes at the surface of NPs as compared to that of capping ligands defines the selectivity of the nanocatalyst for alkene in alkyne hydrogenation reaction. We report that addition of primary alkylamines to Pt and CoPt(3) NPs can drastically increase selectivity for alkene from 0 to more than 90% with ~99.9% conversion. Increasing the primary alkylamine coverage on the NP surface leads to the decrease in the binding energy of octenes and eventual competition between octene and primary alkylamines for adsorption sites. At sufficiently high coverage of catalysts with primary alkylamine, the alkylamines win, which prevents further hydrogenation of alkenes into alkanes. Primary amines with different lengths of carbon chains have similar adsorption energies at the surface of catalysts and, consequently, the same effect on selectivity. When the adsorption energy of capping ligands at the catalytic surface is lower than adsorption energy of alkenes, the ligands do not affect the selectivity of hydrogenation of alkyne to alkene. On the other hand, capping ligands with adsorption energies at the catalytic surface higher than that of alkyne reduce its activity resulting in low conversion of alkynes.