Ligand accommodation causes altered reactivity of silver clusters with iodomethane:superatomic stability of Ag_(9)I_(2)^(+)in mimicking XeF_(2)

Exploring metal cluster reactivity with alkyl halides enables to understand the related chemical mechanism of metal surfaces in terms of active sites.Here we report a study of Ag_(n)^(+)(n=1-27)clusters reacting with iodomethane by a flow tube apparatus in tandem with a customized triple quadrupole mass spectrometer.Strong even/odd alternation of the Ag_(n)^(+)is observed in their reactions with CH_(3)I,where silver clusters with even-number,Ag_(2n)^(+),find favorable products of Ag_(2n)I_(1,3)^(+)series,while the Ag_(2n−1)^(+)clusters form Ag_(2n−1)I_(2,4)^(+)products.Interestingly,Ag_(9)^(+)shows up with prominent mass abundance but allows for the formation of Ag_(9)I_(2)^(+),which finds an echo with the formation of Ag_(10)I_(3)^(+).We illustrate the enhanced stability of Ag_(9)I_(2)^(+)and Ag_(10)I_(3)^(+)by showing their significantly enlarged highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(LUMO)gaps and balanced charge distribution compared with the bare metal clusters,respectively.Also elucidated,is the superatomic nature of these bare and iodinated silver clusters,especially Ag_(9)I_(2)^(+)which mimics the rare-gas compound XeF_(2).This study expands a vivid example of special and general superatoms,and enriches the general knowledge on how a ligand stabilizes a metal cluster.

A comparative study on the reactivity of cationic niobium clusters with nitrogen and oxygen

We have prepared well-resolved Nb^(+)_(n)(n=1-10)clusters and report here an in-depth study on the es-sentially different reactivity with N_(2)and O_(2),by utilizing a multiple-ion laminar flow tube reactor in tandem with a customized triple quadrupole mass spectrometer(MIFT-TQMS).As results,the Nb^(+)_(n)clus-ters are found to readily react with N_(2)and form adsorption products Nb_(n)N^(+)_(2m);in contrast,the reactions with O_(2)give rise to Nb_(n)O^(+)_(1−4)products,and the odd-oxygen products indicate O-O bond dissociation,as well as increased mass abundance of NbO^(+)pertaining to oxygen-etching reactions.We illustrate how N_(2) prefers a physical adsorption on Nb^(+)_(n)clusters with an end-on orientation for all the products,and allow for size-selective Nb^(+)_(n)clusters to act as electron donor or acceptor in forming Nb_(n)N^(+)_(2m).In contrast to these nitrides,the dioxides Nb_(n)O+2display much larger binding energies,with O_(2)always as an electron acceptor,corresponding to superoxide or peroxide states in the initial reactions.Density-of-states and orbital anal-yses show that the interactions between Nb^(+)_(n)and O_(2)are dominated by strongπ-backdonation indicative of incidental electron transfer;whereas weakπ-backdonation and simultaneousσdonation interactions exist in Nb_(n)N^(+)_(2).Further,reaction dynamics analysis illustrates the different interactions for N_(2)and O_(2) in approaching the Nb^(+)_(n)clusters,showing the energy diagrams for N_(2)adsorption and O-O bond dissoci-ation in producing odd-oxygen products.Fragment analyses with orbital correlation and donor-acceptor charge transfer are also performed,giving rise to full insights into the reactivities and interactions of such transition metal clusters with typical diatomic molecules.

Pure Metal Clusters with Atomic Precision for Nanomanufacturing

Advances in cluster science have enabled the preparation of atomically precise metal clusters with one to a hundred atoms under controllable expansion conditions.After introducing typical gas-phase cluster preparation and reaction apparatuses,this work summarized recent progress in preparing pure metal clusters of single-atom resolution,including neutral and ionic ones,with typical examples of Al,V,Nb,Fe,Co,Ni,Rh,Pt,Ag,Cu,and Pb.With the development of soft-landing deposition technology,the size-selective pure metal clusters with strict atomic precision and predictive property will benefit nanomanufacturing down to atomic and near-atomic scales.This work serves as a modest motivation to stimulate the interest of scientists focusing on interdisciplinary subjects.