Site-specific doping of silver atoms into a Au25nanocluster as directed by ligand binding preferences

Abstract

For the first time site-specific doping of silver into a spherical Au25 nanocluster has been achieved in [Au19Ag6 (MeOPhS)17(PPh3)6] (BF4)2 (Au19Ag6) through a dual-ligand coordination strategy. Single crystal X-ray structural analysis shows that the cluster has a distorted centered icosahedral Au@Au6Ag6 core of D3 symmetry, in contrast to the Ih Au@Au12 kernel in the well-known [Au25(SR)18]- (R = CH2CH2Ph). An interesting feature is the coexistence of [Au2 (SPhOMe)3] dimeric staples and [P-Au-SPhOMe] semistaples in the title cluster, due to the incorporation of PPh3. The observation of only one double-charged peak in ESI-TOF-MS confirms the ordered doping of silver atoms. Au19Ag6 is a 6e system showing a distinct absorption spectrum from [Au25 (SR)18]-, that is, the HOMO-LUMO transition of Au19Ag6 is optically forbidden due to the P character of the superatomic frontier orbitals.