Novel Modifications of Gold, Rhodium, and Ruthenium—M13 Clusters as Building Blocks of “Superclusters”

Not alchemistry but rather chemistry is the basis for preparing a gold modification: [Au55(PPh3)12Cl6] can be degraded to naked Au13 clusters in CH2Cl2 solution by application of a 20‐V d.c. potential, the outer layer of the cluster being lost. These smaller clusters reorganize, in turn, the form superclusters (Au13)13 and microcrystallites [(Au13)13]n, whose structure were determined by means of their X‐ray powder data.