Planar Iron Hydride Nanoclusters: Combined Spectroscopic and Theoretical Insights into Structures and Building Principles.

The controlled assembly of well-defined planar nanoclusters from molecular precursors is synthetically challenging and often plagued by the predominant formation of 3D-structures and nanoparticles. Herein, we report planar iron hydride nanoclusters from reactions of main group element hydrides with iron(II) bis(hexamethyldisilazide). The structures and properties of isolated Fe , Fe , and Fe nanoplatelets and calculated intermediates enable an unprecedented insight into the underlying building principle and growth mechanism of iron clusters, metal monolayers, and nanoparticles.