Combined synthesis of interconvertible Au11Cd and Au26Cd5 for photocatalytic oxidations involving singlet oxygen

A novel Au11Cd nanocluster was synthesized by developing a combined method and controlling the kinetics, and another Au26Cd5 nanocluster was also obtained after the conditions were changed in the same reaction, which could transfer to Au11Cd in a two-way style. Both alloy nanoclusters can photocatalyze the production of singlet oxygen (1O2) and exhibit enhanced efficiencies in photocatalyzing two kinds of organic oxidations involving singlet oxygen compared with their non-alloyed mother nanoclusters, indicating that the Cd-doping might be an efficient way to enhance the photocatalysis performance of gold nanoclusters and metal nanoclusters are promising photocatalysts for organic oxidation involving singlet oxygen.