Au 108 S 24 (PPh 3 ) 16 : A Highly Symmetric Nanoscale Gold Cluster Confirms the General Concept of Metalloid Clusters

The reduction of (Ph P)AuCl with NaBH in the presence of HSC(SiMe ) , leads to one of the largest metalloid gold clusters: Au S (PPh ) (1). Within 1 an octahedral Au core of gold atoms arranged as in Au metal is surrounded by 48 oxidized Au atoms of an Au S shell, a novel building block in gold chemistry. The protecting Au S shell is completed by additional 16 Au(PPh ) units, leading to a complete protection of the gold core. Within 1 the Au-Au distances get more molecular on going from the center to the ligand shell. Cluster 1 represents novel structural motives in the field of metalloid gold clusters which also are partly typical for metal atoms in metalloid clusters: M R (n>m).