Optical Absorption of Atomically-Precise Sn14 Nanoclusters: The Antagonistic Interplay of Ligand Stabilization, Molecular Symmetry, and Solvatochromism

The synthesis of atomically precise clusters is nowadays well established. The study of isolated clusters in the gas phase has also become an approved field of research. Although both approaches examine the same research objects, namely nanoclusters, little is known about to what extent results from gas phase studies can be transferred to colloidal systems and vice versa. In particular, it is not yet sufficiently understood how ligands influence the geometric and electronic structure of clusters from an experimental point of view. By comparing a ligand-stabilized tin nanocluster in solution with an isolated species in the gas phase and considering different geometric arrangements with the same number of tin atoms, the impacts of ligand stabilization, molecular symmetry, and solvatochromism on the optical behavior are thoroughly worked out for the first time.