Fabrication of a family of atomically precise silver nanoclusters via dual-level kinetic control

The controllable preparation of metal nanoclusters in high yield is an essential prerequisite for their fundamental research and extensive application. Here a synthetic approach termed “dual-level kinetic control” was developed to fabricate a family of new silver nanoclusters. The introduction of secondary ligands was first exploited to retard the reduction rate and accomplish the first-level kinetic control. And the cooling of the reaction was performed to further slow the reduction down and accomplish the second-level kinetic control. A family of atomically precise silver nanoclusters (including [Ag(25)(SR)(18)](−), [Ag(34)(SR)(18)(DPPP)(3)Cl(4)](2+), [Ag(36)(SR)(26)S(4)](2+), [Ag(37)(SR)(25)Cl(1)](+), and [Ag(52)(SR)(28)Cl(4)](2+)) were controllably prepared and structurally determined. The developed “dual-level kinetic control” hopefully acts as a powerful synthetic tool to manufacture more nanoclusters with unprecedented compositions, structures, and properties.