Halide Ligands:  Anchors for Metal Clusters on Gold Surfaces

Aurophilic complexes as gold atom sources in organic mediaElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: UV–vis spectra, TEM images and size histograms of colloids 1, 3 and 4. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/cc/b1/b111679g/

“…9 Halide ions also form strong bonds with gold or silver surfaces. For instance, chloride ions are used to anchor nanoparticles on gold surfaces 10 and their presence is essential for the stabilisation of gold-phosphine clusters 11 such as [Au 39 (PPh 3 ) 14 Cl 6 ]Cl 2 12 and [Au 55 (PPh 3 ) 12 Cl 6 ] 13 or even of nanoparticles. 14 There is therefore a need for alternatives to gold chloro derivatives as nanoparticle precursors 15,16 and for conditions allowing the use of labile and non-contaminating ligands.…”

Surface Modification by Deposition and Thermal Decomposition of Transition Metal Cluster Halides

“…This is due to the higher adsorption eciency of the halide ligands with respect to aqua or methanolate as described by Prokopuk and Shriver [40]. Moreover, the deposition of these cluster particles led in some occasions to inhomogeneously distributed particles with poor coverings.…”

“…In the case of niobium, the most common compounds are halogenides (chlorides) and oxides. According to the work of Prokopuk and Shriver, chlorido ligands can be easily adsorbed on metallic surfaces [40], therefore the cluster M I 4 [Nb 6 Cl 18 ] (M I = Na, K, Rb) constitutes a good precursor for the deposition of niobium on surfaces.…”

Aqueous-organic biphasic redox-chemistry of high-hydride content rhodium clusters: Towards immobilisation of redox-switchable H2 binding materials on a surface

“…Immobilisation of cluster materials on electrode surfaces by establishing covalent chemical bonds between the surface and redox-active molecule have been reported previously, e.g. polyoxometallates [8], metal halide clusters, {M 6 X 12 } n+ (X = Cl, Br, I) [9] and tri-ruthenium [10] or tri-nickel complexes [11]. In some cases ligand-loss (e.g.…”