Z. Naturforsch. 2013,
68b, 569 – 574
doi:10.5560/ZNB.2013-3075
Isolation, Optical Properties and Core Structure of a Water-soluble, Phosphine-stabilized [Au9]3+ Cluster
Benjamin S.
Gutrath1,2,
Carina
Merkens1,
Frank
Schiefer1,2,
Ulli
Englert1,
Günter
Schmid3, and
Ulrich
Simon1,2
1 Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
2 JARA – Fundamentals of Future Information Technologies, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
3 Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University Duisburg-Essen, 45127 Essen, Germany
Received February 27, 2013 / published online Juli 2, 2013
Dedicated to Professor Heinrich Nöth on the occasion of his 85th birthday
A water-soluble, crystalline Au9 cluster compound stabilized with sodium (m-sulfonatophenyl)diphenylphosphine (TPPMSNa) was obtained during the NaBH4 reduction of [Au(TPPMSNa)Cl]·H2O in ethanol. Characterization by optical extinction spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction in combination with energy dispersive X-ray diffraction led to the preliminary formula Na(8−x)[Au9(TPPMS)8]Cl(3−x) · nH2O (0 ≤ x ≤ 3, n ≈ 16) with the cluster core in crown conformation. 31P{1H} nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed one singlet at 57.3 ppm. This is the first example where gold clusters stabilized by TPPMSNa formed crystals which where suitable for core structure determination.
Key words: Cluster Compounds, Gold, Structure Elucidation, Nanotechnology