Hydride-Mediated Controlled Growth of a Bimetallic (Pd@Au₈)²⁺ Superatom to a Hydride-Doped (HPd@Au₁₀)³⁺ Superatom

A hydride (H – )-doped bimetallic superatom (HPdAu 8 ) + was produced by reacting BH 4 – with an oblate (PdAu 8 ) 2+ superatom protected by PPh 3 . The H atom in (HPdAu 8 ) + survived during the sequential addition of Au(I)Cl to form an (HPdAu 10 ) 3+ superatom, in sharp contrast to the proton release from a H – -doped pure gold superatom (HAu 9 ) 2+ in the growth process to (Au 11 ) 3+ . Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and density functional theory calculations on (HPdAu 10 ) 3+ showed that the interstitially doped H atom induced a notable deformation of the core.