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Updated: Jun 19, 2025

Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates
Published on: February 15, 2016
On the variation of cluster core characteristics by an endohedral atom. Shape variation in 8-ce [EAu4(PPh3)4]2+ (E =
Raul Guajardo-Maturana1, Desmond MacLeod Carey2, Peter L Rodríguez-Kessler3
1Instituto de Investigación Interdisciplinar en Ciencias Biomédicas SEK (I3CBSEK) Chile, Universidad SEK, Santiago, Chile.
Abstract:
Atomically precise gold superatoms have attracted interest owing to their suitable use as building blocks for cluster-assembled materials, favoring ordered structures with advanced properties. In this sense, expanding their versatility is a relevant issue for controlling their properties and retaining a specific nuclearity. Interestingly, the reported structure for isoelectronic [Au4N(PPh3)4]+ and [Au4Sb(PPh3)4]+ clusters denotes two contrasting shapes featuring a tetrahedral and square pyramidal structure, respectively. Herein, we further explore the [Au4E(PPh3)4]+ (E = N, P, As, Sb) series in order to evaluate energetic and structural factors determining the overall shape. Our results show a favorable [Au4(PPh3)4]4+/E3- interaction energy, predicting particular patterns in their UV-vis spectrum. Thus, the use of dopant atoms is enabled to vary the core shape and, in turn, to modify the cluster properties, which serve as a structural control, in addition to ligand-based and size approaches.
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