High-Nuclearity Ln₂₁₀Al₁₄₀ Clusters: Neonates of Open Hollow Dodecahedral Cage Families

Abstract

Open hollow dodecahedral cage clusters have long been a coveted target in synthetic chemistry, yet their creation poses immense challenges. Here we report two open hollow dodecahedral lanthanide−aluminum (Ln−Al) heterometallic cage clusters, namely, [Ln 210 Al 140 (μ 2 -OH) 210 (μ 3 -OH) 540 (OAc) 180 (H 2 O) 156 ](ClO 4 ) 120 •(MeCN) x •(H 2 O) y , (Ln = Dy and x = 27, y = 300 for 1; Ln = Y and x = 28, y = 420 for 2). Remarkably, the 350 metal atoms in 1 and 2 display a Keplerate-type four-shell structure of truncated