Evaluation of Hollow Golden Icosahedrons: Bonding and Spherical Aromatic Properties of [Au11E]3-Superatoms (E=Se and Te) from Relativistic DFT calculations, Persistent Structures?
Two novel clusters were proposed according to the superatom model involving a favorable inclusion of Se and Te into a Au12cage leading to [Au11E]3-clusters. Such structures retain a hollow gold-based icosahedron with spherical aromatic character, according to the 18-valence electron rule. Interestingly, it is shown that despite the favorable electronic structure and aromatic behavior, the titled structure is further found to be a local minimum in the potential surface, which exhibits a planar isomer as a plausible candidate for the lowest-energy structure. The proposed strategy employed to vary the electron count of the cage is useful for the further design of novel spherical aromatic superatoms and ligand-protected clusters, for which the main variation is generated directly in the surface of the cluster, in addition to the extensive formation of endohedral clusters with different heteroatoms.
Grupo de Química Inorgánica y Materiales Moleculares, Universidad Autonoma de Chile, El Llano Subercaseaux 2801, Santiago, Chile.|Doctorado en Fisicoquímica Molecular, Universidad Andres Bello, Av. Republica 275, Santiago, Chile.
Alvaro
A
Muñoz-Castro
chalcogens; gold; hollow structures; p-block elements; superatoms