Noble metal nanoparticles stabilized by organic ligands are important for applications in assembly, site-specific bioconjugate labelling and sensing, drug delivery and medical therapy, molecular recognition and molecular electronics, and catalysis. Here we report crystal structures and theoretical analysis of three Ag 44 (SR) 30 and three Au 12 Ag 32 (SR) 30 intermetallic nanoclusters stabilized with fluorinated arylthiols (SR ¼ SPhF, SPhF 2 or SPhCF 3 ). The nanocluster forms a Keplerate solid of concentric icosahedral and dodecahedral atom shells, protected by six Ag 2 (SR) 5 units. Positive counterions in the crystal indicate a high negative charge of 4 À per nanoparticle, and density functional theory calculations explain the stability as an 18-electron superatom shell closure in the metal core. Highly featured optical absorption spectra in the ultraviolet-visible region are analysed using time-dependent density functional perturbation theory. This work forms a basis for further understanding, engineering and controlling of stability as well as electronic and optical properties of these novel nanomaterials.

A yellow luminescent thiolate-protected Ag(14)(SC(6)H(3)F(2))(12)(PPh(3))(8) cluster was synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The cluster contains an octahedral Ag(6)(4+) unit encapsulated by eight cubically arranged [Ag(+)(SC(6)H(3)F(2)(-))(2)PPh(3)] tetrahedra that share one corner (i.e. SC(6)H(3)F(2)(-)) between them.

The combined use of thiolate and diphosphine as surface ligands helps to stabilize subnanometer Ag(0) nanoclusters, resulting in the successful crystallization of two Ag(0)-containing nanoclusters (Ag16 and Ag32) for X-ray single crystal analysis. Both clusters have core-shell structures with Ag8(6+) and Ag22(12+) as their cores, which are not simply either fragments of face-centered cubic metals or their five-fold twinned counterparts. The clusters display UV-Vis absorption spectra consisting of molecule-like optical transitions.

An intermetallic nanocluster containing 44 metal atoms, Au24Ag20(2-SPy)4(PhC≡C)20Cl2, was successfully synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal analysis and density funtional theory computations. The 44 metal atoms in the cluster are arranged as a concentric three-shell Au12@Ag20@Au12 Keplerate structure having a high symmetry. For the first time, the co-presence of three different types of anionic ligands (i.e., phenylalkynyl, 2-pyridylthiolate, and chloride) was revealed on the surface of metal nanoclusters. Similar to thiolates, alkynyls bind linearly to surface Au atoms using their σ-bonds, leading to the formation of two types of surface staple units (PhC≡C-Au-L, L = PhC≡C(-) or 2-pyridylthiolate) on the cluster. The co-presence of three different surface ligands allows the site-specific surface and functional modification of the cluster. The lability of PhC≡C(-) ligands on the cluster was demonstrated, making it possible to keep the metal core intact while removing partial surface capping. Moreover, it was found that ligand exchange on the cluster occurs easily to offer various derivatives with the same metal core but different surface functionality and thus different solubility.