title: Sn12(2-): stannaspherene.
abstract: Stannaspherene. The Sn122- cluster is discovered to be a highly stable and highly symmetric icosahedral cage bonded by four delocalized radial pi bonds and nine delocalized on-sphere sigma bonds from the 5p orbitals of the Sn atoms. It has a diameter of 6.1 A, with a large empty interior volume, and can host most transition metal atoms inside, giving rise to a large class of endohedral chemical building blocks for cluster-assembled nanomaterials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Washington State University, 2710 University Drive, Richland, WA 99354, USA.
authors.forename: Li-Feng
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Lei-Ming
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dmitry Yu
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Zubarev
authors.forename: Alexander I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Boldyrev
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lai-Sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wang