Colourless solutions of blue light-emitting, water-soluble gold nanoclusters (AuNC) were synthesized from gold colloids under microwave irradiation using small organic molecules as ligands. Stabilized by 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane (TPA) or L-glutamine (GLU), fluorescence quantum yields up to 5% were obtained. AuNC are considered to be very promising for biological labelling, optoelectronic devices and light-emitting materials but the structure-property relationships have still not been fully clarified. To expand the knowledge about the AuNC apart from their fluorescent properties they were studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy elucidating the oxidation state of the nanoclusters' gold atoms. Based on curve fitting of the XANES spectra in comparison to several gold references, optically transparent fluorescent AuNC are predicted to be ligand-stabilized Au5(+) species. Additionally, their near edge structure compared with analogous results of polynuclear clusters known from the literature discloses an increasing intensity of the feature close to the absorption edge with decreasing cluster size. As a result, a linear relationship between the cluster size and the X-ray absorption coefficient can be established for the first time.
A new transition metal complex of the mono-protonated ligand (dimethylphosphoryl)methanamine (dpmaH+) was obtained by equimolar reaction of copper(II) chloride dihydrate and dpma in concentrated hydrochloric acid. The asymmetric unit of the title structure, [CuCl2(C3H11NOP)4][CuCl4]2, consists of one half of a fourfold charged trans-dichloridotetrakis[(dimethylphosphoryl)methanaminium]copper(II) complex with the copper atom located on an inversion centre and one tetrachloridocuprate(II) dianion found in a general position. The copper centre in the cationic complex shows a tetragonally distorted octahedral environment composed of four oxygen atoms in a square plane and two trans-coordinated chlorido ligands. This 4+2-coordination causes elongated Cu-Cl distances because of the Jahn-Teller effect. The geometry of the tetrachloridocuprate(II) dianion is best described as a seriously distorted tetrahedron. Analysis of the hydrogen bonding scheme by graph-set theory shows three patterns of rings in the title compound. The cationic copper complex reveals intramolecular hydrogen bonds between two aminium groups and the two axial chlorido ligands. Further hydrogen bonding among the cations and anions, more precisely between four aminium groups and the chlorido ligands of four adjacent tetrachloridocuprate(II) anions, lead to a chain-type structure. Comparing the coordination chemistry of the title structure with an analogue cobalt(II) compound only disclose differences in hydrogen bonding pattern resulting in an unusual chain propagation. Besides the crystal structure received spectroscopic data are in accordance with appropriate literature.
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