Simultaneous hetero-atom doping and foreign-thiolate exchange on the Au25(SR)18 nanocluster

Atomically precise tuning of the structures of nanoclusters (NCs for short) is exciting and critical for tailoring the properties, capturing the structure-property correlations, and strengthening the applications of these NCs. Metal-exchange and ligand-exchange are two universal methods used to modify the NCs at the atomic level. In this work, simultaneous hetero-atom doping and hetero-thiolate exchange are processed on the Au25 template by doping the Au25(SR)18 NC with Ag-SR' complexes (where SR and SR' represent different ligands), and these procedures are monitored by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) and UV-vis spectrometry. Additionally, to obtain functional alloy NCs, Ag-SPhNH2 and Ag-SPhCOOH are used to dope the parent Au25(S-C2H4Ph)18, which successfully functionalizes the capped ligands and alloys the metallic kernel at the same time. Our work will hopefully shed light on the preparation of alloy NCs with intriguing functions.