Kernel Homology in Gold Nanoclusters

Shengli Zhuang; Lingwen Liao; Jinyun Yuan; Chengming Wang; Yan Zhao; Nan Xia; Zibao Gan; Wanmiao Gu; Jin Li; Haiteng Deng; Jinlong Yang; Zhikun Wu

doi:10.1002/anie.201808997

Kernel Homology in Gold Nanoclusters

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Nov 19;57(47):15450-15454. doi: 10.1002/anie.201808997. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

Authors

Shengli Zhuang^{1

2}, Lingwen Liao^{1

2}, Jinyun Yuan³, Chengming Wang³, Yan Zhao^{1

2}, Nan Xia^{1

2}, Zibao Gan^{1

2}, Wanmiao Gu^{1

2}, Jin Li⁴, Haiteng Deng⁵, Jinlong Yang³, Zhikun Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, P. R. China.
² Institute of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, China.
³ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
⁴ Tsinghua University-Peking University Joint Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
⁵ MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.

PMID: 30290044
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201808997

Abstract

Homology is well known in organic chemistry; however, it has not yet been reported in nanochemistry. Herein, we introduce the concept of kernel homology to describe the phenomenon of metal nanoclusters sharing the same "functional group" in kernels with some similar properties. To illustrate this point, we synthesized two novel gold nanoclusters, Au₄₄ (TBBT)₂₆ and Au₄₈ (TBBT)₂₈ (TBBTH=4-tert-butylbenzenethiol), and solved their total structures by X-ray crystallography, which reveals that they have the same Au₂₃ bi-icosahedron capped with a similar bottom cap (Au₆ and Au₈ , respectively) in the kernels. The two novel gold nanoclusters, together with the existing Au₃₈ (PET)₂₄ nanocluster (PETH=phenylethanethiol), have the same "functional group"-Au₂₃ -in their kernels and have some similar properties (e.g., electrochemical properties); therefore, they are comparable to the homologues in organic chemistry.

Keywords: electrochemical properties; functional group; homology; metal nanoclusters; structural elucidation.

Abstract

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