Experimental characterization demonstrates unexpected thermal and electrochemical stability in open-shell 59-electron gold nanoclusters, indicating geometric architecture drives nanocluster...
An atomically resolved gold nanocluster Au₉₉(C≡CC₆H₃-2,4-F₂)₄₀ (Au99) with an unusual 59 valence electrons has been synthesized. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals that its Au₇₉ kernel is a Au₄₉ Marks decahedron capped by two Au₁₅ units. The surface structure of Au99 consists of 20 linear Au(C≡CR)₂ staples. Intercluster interactions are observed between these D₅ symmetric clusters. The existence of an unpaired electron is verified by magnetic measurement. Interestingly, this open-shell gold cluster Au99 stays intact in toluene solution at 80 °C for more than a week, and it has good charging-discharging capability under electrochemical conditions. The compact ligand shell protection around the symmetric core accounts for the high stability. This work suggests that geometric factors may play a crucial role in determining the stability of a metal nanocluster, even though the cluster has an open-shell electronic structure.
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Li et al. (2022) studied this question.
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