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Atomically precise coinage metal (Au, Ag, and Cu) nanoclusters (NCs) have been the subject of immense interest for their intriguing structural, photophysical, and catalytic properties. However, the synthesis of Cu NCs is highly challenging because of low reduction potential and high reactivity of copper, demonstrating the need for new synthetic methods using appropriate ligand combinations. By designing a diamine-assisted synthetic strategy, here we report the synthesis and total structure characterization of a box-like dianionic Cu NC Cu32(PET)24H8Cl2(PPh4)2 coprotected by 2-phenylethanethiolate (PET), hydride, and chloride ligands. Its crystal structure comprises a rare bisquare antiprismatic Cu14H8 core, assembled by two square antiprisms by edge sharing, followed by hydride binding. The rod-shaped Cu14H8 core is clamped by two complex Cu7(PET)11Cl and two simple Cu2PET metal ligand frameworks, constructing the complete structure of Cu32 NC. The presence, number, and location of hydrides are established by combined experimental and density functional theory results. The electronic structure calculations show the cluster as a zero-free-electron system, reproduce well the measured optical absorption spectrum, and explain the main absorption features. Furthermore, the Cu32 cluster is found to be a highly active homogeneous catalyst for C-N bond formation in aniline carbonylation reactions at room temperature. We hope that new findings in this work will stimulate and expand the research on Cu and other active metal NCs.
Lee et al. (Thu,) studied this question.