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Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Synthesis of Nine-atom Deltahedral Zintl Ions of Germanium and their Functionalization with Organic Groups
Published on: February 11, 2012
Sn12(2-): stannaspherene
Li-Feng Cui1, Xin Huang, Lei-Ming Wang
1Department of Physics, Washington State University, 2710 University Drive, Richland, WA 99354, USA.
Abstract:
Stannaspherene. The Sn122- cluster is discovered to be a highly stable and highly symmetric icosahedral cage bonded by four delocalized radial pi bonds and nine delocalized on-sphere sigma bonds from the 5p orbitals of the Sn atoms. It has a diameter of 6.1 A, with a large empty interior volume, and can host most transition metal atoms inside, giving rise to a large class of endohedral chemical building blocks for cluster-assembled nanomaterials.
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