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Updated: Feb 21, 2026
![The Synthesis of [Sn10SiSiMe334]2- Using a Metastable SnI Halide Solution Synthesized via a Co-condensation Technique](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F54498.jpg&w=3840&q=50)
The Synthesis of [Sn10SiSiMe334]2- Using a Metastable SnI Halide Solution Synthesized via a Co-condensation Technique
Published on: November 28, 2016
The Intermetalloid Cluster Cation (CuBi8 )3
Maximilian Knies1, Martin Kaiser1, Anna Isaeva1
1Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
The reaction of Bi, BiCl3 , and CuCl in the ionic liquid [BMIm]Cl⋅4 AlCl3 (BMIm=1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) at 180 °C yielded air-sensitive shiny black crystals of (CuBi8 )[AlCl4 ]2 [Al2 Cl7 ] and (CuBi8 )[AlCl4 ]3 . For both compounds X-ray diffraction on single crystals revealed monoclinic structures that contain the intermetalloid cluster (CuBi8 )3+ . It is the first pure bismuth cluster with a 3d metal and the first with a metal that does not form binary intermetallics with bismuth under ambient pressure. The cluster can be interpreted either as a copper(I) cation, η4 -coordinated by a square-antiprismatic Bi82+ polycation (Bi-Cu 267 pm), or as a nine-atomic intermetalloid nido-cluster with 22 skeletal electrons and the C4v symmetry. One of the chloride ions of a tetrahedral [AlCl4 ]- group coordinates the copper atom (Cu-Cl 228 pm) and thereby completes its 18 electron count. DFT-based calculations, followed by real-space bonding analysis, revealed a multicenter bonding situation between copper and bismuth atoms with about seven shared electrons.
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