Noble metal nanoparticles stabilized by organic ligands are important for applications in assembly, site-specific bioconjugate labelling and sensing, drug delivery and medical therapy, molecular recognition and molecular electronics, and catalysis. Here we report crystal structures and theoretical analysis of three Ag 44 (SR) 30 and three Au 12 Ag 32 (SR) 30 intermetallic nanoclusters stabilized with fluorinated arylthiols (SR ¼ SPhF, SPhF 2 or SPhCF 3 ). The nanocluster forms a Keplerate solid of concentric icosahedral and dodecahedral atom shells, protected by six Ag 2 (SR) 5 units. Positive counterions in the crystal indicate a high negative charge of 4 À per nanoparticle, and density functional theory calculations explain the stability as an 18-electron superatom shell closure in the metal core. Highly featured optical absorption spectra in the ultraviolet-visible region are analysed using time-dependent density functional perturbation theory. This work forms a basis for further understanding, engineering and controlling of stability as well as electronic and optical properties of these novel nanomaterials.

An intermetallic nanocluster containing 44 metal atoms, Au24Ag20(2-SPy)4(PhC≡C)20Cl2, was successfully synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal analysis and density funtional theory computations. The 44 metal atoms in the cluster are arranged as a concentric three-shell Au12@Ag20@Au12 Keplerate structure having a high symmetry. For the first time, the co-presence of three different types of anionic ligands (i.e., phenylalkynyl, 2-pyridylthiolate, and chloride) was revealed on the surface of metal nanoclusters. Similar to thiolates, alkynyls bind linearly to surface Au atoms using their σ-bonds, leading to the formation of two types of surface staple units (PhC≡C-Au-L, L = PhC≡C(-) or 2-pyridylthiolate) on the cluster. The co-presence of three different surface ligands allows the site-specific surface and functional modification of the cluster. The lability of PhC≡C(-) ligands on the cluster was demonstrated, making it possible to keep the metal core intact while removing partial surface capping. Moreover, it was found that ligand exchange on the cluster occurs easily to offer various derivatives with the same metal core but different surface functionality and thus different solubility.

We report a simple synthesis of silver:glutathione (Ag:SG) clusters using a cyclic reduction under oxidative conditions. Two syntheses are described which lead to solutions containing well-defined Ag31(SG)19 and Ag15(SG)11 clusters that have been characterized by mass spectrometry. The optical properties of silver:glutathione (Ag:SG) cluster solutions have been investigated experimentally. In particular, the solution containing Ag15(SG)11 clusters shows a bright and photostable emission. For Ag31(SG)19 and Ag15(SG)11 clusters, the comparison of experimental findings with DFT and TDDFT calculations allowed us to reveal the structural and electronic properties of such low nuclearity liganded silver clusters.

Demonstrated herein are the preparation and crystallographic characterization of the family of fcc silver nanoclusters from Nichol's cube to Rubik's cube and beyond via ligand-control (thiolates and phosphines in this case). The basic building block is our previously reported fcc cluster [Ag(SPhF)(PPh)] (1). The metal frameworks of [Ag(SPhF)(PR')] (2) and [Ag(SPhF)(PR')] (2), where HSPhF = 3,4-difluorothiophenol and R' = alkyl/aryl, are composed of 2 × 2 = 4 and 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 metal cubes of 1, respectively. All serial clusters share similar surface structural features. The thiolate ligands cap the six faces and the 12 edges of the cube (or half cube) while the phosphine ligands are terminally bonded to its eight corners. On the basis of the analysis of the crystal structures of 1, 2, and 2, we predict the next "cube of cubes" to be Ag(SR)(PR')] (3), in the evolution of growth of this cluster sequence.

Selenolate protected, stable and atomically precise, hollow silver cluster was synthesized using solid state as well as solution state routes. The optical absorption spectrum shows multiple and sharp features similar to the thiolated Ag44 cluster, Ag44(SR)30 whose experimental structure was reported recently. High-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESI MS) shows well-defined molecular ion features with two, three, and four ions with isotopic resolution, due to Ag44(SePh)30. Additional characterization with diverse tools confirmed the composition. The closed-shell 18 electron superatom electronic structure, analogous to Ag44(SR)30 stabilizes the dodecahedral cage with a large HOMO-LUMO gap of 0.71 eV. The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) prediction of the optical absorption spectrum, assuming the Ag44(SR)30 structure, matches the experimental data, confirming the structure.