The reactivity of
[Rh
7
(CO)
16
]
3–
with SbCl
3
has been deeply investigated with the aim
of finding a new approach to prepare atomically precise metalloid
clusters. In particular, by varying the stoichiometric ratios, the
reaction atmosphere (carbon monoxide or nitrogen), the solvent, and
by working at room temperature and low pressure, we were able to prepare
two large carbonyl clusters of nanometer size, namely, [Rh
20
Sb
3
(CO)
36
]
3–
and [Rh
21
Sb
2
(CO)
38
]
5–
. A third
large species composed of 28 metal atoms was isolated, but its exact
formulation in terms of metal stoichiometry could not be incontrovertibly
confirmed. We also adopted an alternative approach to synthesize nanoclusters,
by decomposing the already known [Rh
12
Sb(CO)
27
]
3–
species with PPh
3
, willing to generate
unsaturated fragments that could condense to larger species. This
strategy resulted in the formation of the lower-nuclearity [Rh
10
Sb(CO)
21
PPh
3
]
3–
heteroleptic
cluster instead. All three new compounds were characterized by IR
spectroscopy, and their molecular structures were fully established
by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. These showed a distinct
propensity for such clusters to adopt an icosahedral-based geometry.
Their characterization was completed by ESI-MS and NMR studies. The
electronic properties of the high-yield [Rh
21
Sb
2
(CO)
38
]
5–
cluster were studied through
cyclic voltammetry and
in situ
infrared spectroelectrochemistry,
and the obtained results indicate a multivalent nature.