Chiral Superatomic Nanoclusters Ag47 Induced by the Ligation of Amino Acids

Abstract Silver nanoclusters containing Ag 0 atoms protected by amino acids were synthesized and characterized. Chiral superatomic silver nanoclusters [Ag 47 L 12 (C≡C t Bu) 16 ]BF 4 (L= l‐/d ‐valine or l‐/d ‐isoleucine) have been prepared by reducing AgC≡C t Bu and amino acids (AAs) with NaBH 4 . Single crystal X‐ray diffraction revealed that these clusters have T symmetry, and the Ag 47 metal kernel can be viewed as a tetracapped truncated tetrahedron (Ag 17 ) surrounded with six W‐shaped Ag 5 units. The clusters are homochiral as evidenced by CD measurements. As for the strong CD signals, large contributions are found from the occupied Ag s,p states (superatomic D states) near the Fermi level. Electron counting revealed that these clusters are 18‐electron systems, suggesting they are superatomic clusters. The superatomic nature with a 1S 2 1P 6 1D 10 configuration was supported by DFT calculations. This work paves the way of taking AAs as facile chiral induction agents for the synthesis of metal nanoclusters.