High-Nuclearity Metal–Organic Nanospheres: A Cd66 Ball

Reaction of H(3)L with Cd(NO(3))(2)·4H(2)O in DMF at 150 °C for 3 days affords the metal-organic nanosphere [Cd(66)(μ(3)-OH)(28)(μ(3)-O)(16)(μ(5)-NO(3)-O,O,O',O',O″,O″)(12)(L)(20)(μ(2)-DMF)(12)⊂(DMF)(9)]. The cluster is composed of a spherical shell of 66 Cd(II) cations bridged by 28 μ(3)-hydroxide, 16 μ(3)-oxo, and five μ(5)-NO(3)(-) anions surrounded by a shell of 20 tripodal capping ligands (L) and 12 DMF ligands. The 66 Cd(II) cations and 12 NO(3)(-) anions form a polydeltahedron that has 78 vertices [Cd(II) or NO(3)(-)] (V), 228 edges (E), and 152 triangular faces (F), giving it an Euler characteristic (χ) of 2 (χ = V + F - E). Reaction of H(3)L with Cd(NO(3))(2)·4H(2)O at lower temperatures or with CdCl(2) affords coordination polymer frameworks instead of nanospheres.