Impact of Swapping Ethyl for Phenyl Groups on Diphosphine-Protected Undecagold

Published

September 1, 2007

Author(s)

Justin Golightly, Lin Gao, A W. Castleman, Denis E. Bergeron, Jeffrey W. Hudgens, Rudolph Magyar, Carlos A. Gonzalez

Abstract

1,3-Bis(diethylphosphino)propane (depp) protected gold clusters are synthesized and studied via electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. An undecagold cluster, [Au11(depp)4Cl2]+, is observed under soft ionization conditions, and is found to persist in solution for at least one month. The importance of the Cl ligands is discussed in terms of the electron donating nature of the depp ligands, and we contrast the core-ligand interactions observed here with those found in the previously reported [Au11(dppp)5]3+ (where dppp = 1,3-Bis(dipheynylphosphino)propane). The experimental observations are supported by density functional theory calculations, which confirm the electron donating nature of depp and the electron withdrawing nature of dppp. The results demonstrate that a degree of caution is merited when making ligand approximations for modeling of monolayer protected nanoparticles.

Citation

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Volume

111

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

density functional theory, electrospray ionization, gold nanoparticle, mass spectroscopy, monolayer protected cluster

Citation

Golightly, J. , Gao, L. , Castleman, A. , Bergeron, D. , Hudgens, J. , Magyar, R. and Gonzalez, C. (2007), Impact of Swapping Ethyl for Phenyl Groups on Diphosphine-Protected Undecagold, Journal of the American Chemical Society (Accessed October 3, 2025)