Robust Enantiomeric Two-Dimensional Assembly of Atomically Precise Silver Clusters

Xuemeng Jing; Fangyu Fu; Ruijie Wang; Xing Xin; Lin Qin; Hongjin Lv; Guo-Yu Yang

doi:10.1021/acsnano.2c06492

Robust Enantiomeric Two-Dimensional Assembly of Atomically Precise Silver Clusters

ACS Nano. 2022 Sep 27;16(9):15188-15196. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.2c06492. Epub 2022 Sep 2.

Authors

Xuemeng Jing¹, Fangyu Fu¹, Ruijie Wang¹, Xing Xin¹, Lin Qin¹, Hongjin Lv¹, Guo-Yu Yang¹

Affiliation

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Cluster Science, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectric/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 102488, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 36053191
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c06492

Abstract

The facile syntheses of enantiomeric atomically precise silver clusters starting from achiral ligands remain a substantial challenge to explore. In this work, a pair of atomically precise enantiomers of R/S-[Ag₁₇Cl(ⁱPrS)₉S(CH₃COO)₅H₂O] (R/S-Ag₁₇, ⁱPrS = isopropanethiolate) clusters have been synthesized using a viable solvothermal approach. The chirality of the resulting enantiomeric R/S-Ag₁₇ clusters is attributed to the asymmetric arrangement of surface achiral ligands. Both R/S-Ag₁₇ enantiomers could form the two-dimensional (2D) assemblies via intercluster interactions of basic building blocks containing Ag₁₆S₈ moieties, ⁱPrS-Ag motifs, and S^2- linkers. Such a small ligand-induced 2D assembly greatly contributes to the enhancement of thermal stability and photocatalytic activity of R/S-Ag₁₇ clusters, providing possibilities for exploring robust coinage cluster-based assembly with attractive catalytic properties.

Keywords: catalysis; chirality; enantiomeric 2D self-assembly; silver clusters; thermal stability.