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Superatomic Au13 clusters ligated by different N-heterocyclic carbenes and their ligand-dependent catalysis, photoluminescence, and proton sensitivity

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Abstract

We report herein a class of superatomic Au13 clusters stabilized by different N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). The clusters show diverse metal surface structures, properties and functions as exemplified by: (1) the first anionic Au13 cluster [Au13(NHC-1)6Br6]-, which has bulky NHC-1 ligands that lead to a rather open metal surface contributing to its high catalytic activity; (2) the tricationic cluster [Au13(NHC-2)5Br2]3+ which has bidentate, benzyl-rich NHC-2 ligands that make it ultra-stable and highly-luminescent, suitable for bio-imaging; and (3) by bearing two pyridyl groups on NHC-3, the dicationic cluster [Au13(NHC-3)9CI3]2+ exhibits reversible and stable visible absorption and solubility responses to protonation/deprotonation cycles, making it a potential pH sensor (NHC-1 = 1,3-diisopropylbenzimidazolin-2-ylidene; NHC-2 = 1,3-bis(1-benzyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-ium-3-yl)propane; NHC-3 = 1,3-bis(picolyl)benzimidazolin-2-ylidene). The study nicely demonstrates the importance of ligands in designing metal nanoclusters with desired functionalities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFA0207304), the National Nautural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21890752, 21731005, 21802109, and 21721001), and the fundamental research funds for central universities (No. 20720190043) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Preparation Technology of Nanomaterials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Hui Shen, Sijin Xiang, Zhen Xu, Xihua Li, Cunfa Sun, Shuichao Lin, Boon K. Teo & Nanfeng Zheng

  2. School of Pharmaceutical Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361002, China

    Chen Liu

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  1. Hui Shen
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  2. Sijin Xiang
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Correspondence to Nanfeng Zheng.

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Superatomic Au13 clusters ligated by different N-heterocyclic carbenes and their ligand-dependent catalysis, photoluminescence, and proton sensitivity

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Shen, H., Xiang, S., Xu, Z. et al. Superatomic Au13 clusters ligated by different N-heterocyclic carbenes and their ligand-dependent catalysis, photoluminescence, and proton sensitivity. Nano Res. 13, 1908–1911 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2685-0

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