The n-butylphosphonate ligand has been employed to construct three new silver(I) thiolate compounds.S inglecrystal X-ray analysis revealed that complexes 1 and 2 are Ag 48 and Ag 51 coordination chain polymers,w hile 3 contains ad iscrete Ag 48 cluster,i nw hicht hree different kinds of silver(I) thiolate cluster shells enclose three different phosphonate-functionalized silver(I) cluster cores,r espectively.T he structures of clusters in 1-3 feature three three-shell arrangements,S @Ag 12 @(nBuPO 3 ) 9 @Ag 36 S 23 ,S @Ag 11 @(nBuPO 3 ) 7 -(MoO 4 ) 2 @Ag 40 S 27 and MoO 4 @Ag 12 @(nBuPO 3 ) 8 S 6 @Ag 36 S 24 , respectively.