Thiolates endow metal nanoclusters with stability while sometimes inhibit the catalytic activity due to the strong M-S interaction (M: metal atom). To improve the catalytic activity and keep the stability to some extent, one strategy is the partial phosphorization of thiolated metal nanoclusters. This is demonstrated by successful partial phosphorization of Au23 (SC6 H11 )16 and by revealing that the products Au22 (SC6 H11 )14 (PPh3 )2 and Au22 (SC6 H11 )12 (PPh3 )4 , with varied degree of phosphorization, both show excellent activity in the photocatalytic oxidation of thioanisole without notable reduction of stability. Furthermore, Au22 (SC6 H11 )12 (PPh3 )4 exhibits better photoluminescence performance than the mother nanocluster Au23 (SC6 H11 )16 , indicating that partial phosphorization can also improve some other performance(s) except for the catalytic performance. The intermediates Au22-x Cux (SC6 H11 )12 (PPh3 )4 (x=1, 2) in the transformation from Au23 (SC6 H11 )16 (Au22 (SC6 H11 )14 (PPh3 )2 ) to Au22 (SC6 H11 )12 (PPh3 )4 were captured and identified by mass spectrometry and single crystal X-ray diffraction, which throws light on the understanding of the non-alloyed anti-galvanic reaction.
Keywords: catalysis; partial phosphorization; photoluminescence; thiolated gold nanocluster.
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