General principles for designing stable highly symmetrical clusters are proposed. This approach takes advantage of both the extra stability of cage aromaticity and the good geometrical balance between the outer cage and the endohedral atom. The applicability of these design principles was confirmed by gas-phase experimental observations on group 14 element cages with endohedral Al's and also is illustrated by many literature examples of diverse systems.

Experimental and theoretical evidence for a "sigma aromatic" bimetallic cluster is presented. A mass spectrometric analysis of AuNZn+ (N = 2-44) photofragments shows Au5Zn+ to be very abundant, proving its high stability. Calculations predict that Au5Zn+ has a planar geometry and six valence s electrons occupying delocalized sigma-bonded molecular orbitals in a manner similar to that of aromatic organic compounds, except for their nodal properties in the molecular plane. The delocalized sigma electrons provide diamagnetic ring currents, suggesting Au5Zn+ is aromatic.

The stability of cationic gold clusters doped with one transition metal atom was investigated by a mass spectrometric analysis of fragments resulting from high fluence irradiation of a cluster beam. Strongly enhanced abundances are found for Au5X+, X = V, Mn, Cr, Fe, Co, Zn, which implies that these species are far more stable towards fragmentation than their neighbouring cluster sizes. Here we interpret the enhanced stability of these clusters within a shell model approach for two-dimensional (2D) systems: the number of delocalized electrons in Au5X+ is six, which is a magic number for 2D systems. Quantum chemical calculations for Au N Zn+ (N = 2-6) predict planar structures that are stabilized by the influence of the dopant atom. Also, the main features of the calculated molecular orbitals are well reproduced by a simple electron-in-a-box model. The present report constitutes the first observation of 2D magic numbers in size dependent properties of metal clusters.

A new dual-target dual-laser vaporization source for the production of binary metallic clusters is presented. Clusters of the type AunXm (X=Al, Fe, Co, Ni) were produced. Excellent control over the mixing process was achieved by varying the delay time between the firing of the two lasers and their energy densities. Having identified these critical parameters, their influence over the production process is shown in detail for the AunAlm system. The production of bimetallic clusters in this source is due to the spatial and temporal overlap of the two laser vaporized materials in the source.

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