Atomically precise gold nanoclusters at the molecular-to-metallic transition with intrinsic chirality from surface layers

Li-Juan Liu, Fahri Alkan, Shengli Zhuang, Dongyi Liu, Tehseen Nawaz, Jun Guo, Xiaozhou Luo and Jian He ()
Additional contact information
Li-Juan Liu: The University of Hong Kong
Fahri Alkan: Abdullah Gül University
Shengli Zhuang: The University of Hong Kong
Dongyi Liu: The University of Hong Kong
Tehseen Nawaz: The University of Hong Kong
Jun Guo: The University of Hong Kong
Xiaozhou Luo: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jian He: The University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The advances in determining the total structure of atomically precise metal nanoclusters have prompted extensive exploration into the origins of chirality in nanoscale systems. While chirality is generally transferrable from the surface layer to the metal–ligand interface and kernel, we present here an alternative type of gold nanoclusters (138 gold core atoms with 48 2,4-dimethylbenzenethiolate surface ligands) whose inner structures are not asymmetrically induced by chiral patterns of the outermost aromatic substituents. This phenomenon can be explained by the highly dynamic behaviors of aromatic rings in the thiolates assembled via π − π stacking and C − H···π interactions. In addition to being a thiolate-protected nanocluster with uncoordinated surface gold atoms, the reported Au138 motif expands the size range of gold nanoclusters having both molecular and metallic properties. Our current work introduces an important class of nanoclusters with intrinsic chirality from surface layers rather than inner structures and will aid in elucidating the transition of gold nanoclusters from their molecular to metallic states.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38179-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38179-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38179-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().