Heteronuclear Cluster Chemistry of Copper, Silver, and Gold

This chapter reviews the synthesis, structures, chemical properties, and dynamic behavior of copper, silver, and gold—containing heteronuclear cluster compounds. A cluster compound is considered to be a species, which contains three or more framework atoms with sufficient interactions among them to define either a metal core made up of one or more trigonal planar M3 units or a three-dimensional skeletal geometry based on a wide variety of polyhedra. The chapter is restricted Group IB metal cluster compounds in which the skeletal atoms consist predominantly of transition metals. In the vast majority of the Group IB metal heteronuclear clusters reported so far, one two-electron donor ligand is attached to each coinage metal and PR3 is the most common ligand of this type. A number of species with coinage metals that do not carry any ligands or with ligands that are not simple two-electron donors bonded to the Group IB metals are also known and these clusters are also described in this chapter.