Shu Cong-Cong, Szczepanik Dariusz W, Muñoz-Castro Alvaro, Solà Miquel, Sun Zhong-Ming
State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Tianjin Key Lab for Rare Earth Materials and Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China.
K. Guminski Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa, 2, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
J Am Chem Soc. 2024 May 22;146(20):14166-14173. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c03024. Epub 2024 May 8.
Inorganic fullerene clusters have attracted widespread attention due to their highly symmetrical geometric structures and intrinsic electronic properties. However, cage-like clusters composed of heavy metal elements with high symmetry are rarely reported, and their synthesis is also highly challenging. In this study, we present the synthesis of a [K(Bi@Pd@Bi)] cluster that incorporates a {Bi} cage with - symmetry, making it the largest main group metal cluster compound composed of the bismuth element to date. Magnetic characterization and theoretical calculations suggest that the spin state of the overall cluster is a quartet. Quantum chemical calculations reveal that the [Bi] cluster has a similar electronic configuration to C and the [Bi@Pd@Bi] cluster exhibits a unique open-shell aromatic character.
