Photo- and Temperature-Induced Reversible Structural Transformation between Dodecanuclear and Pentadecanuclear Gold(I) Sulfido Complexes

Stimuli-responsive structural transformation has attracted much attention for its potential to mimic the behavior of biological transformations and functions. Here, two unprecedented dodecanuclear and pentadecanuclear gold(I) sulfido clusters (denoted trans-Au12 and trans-Au15, respectively) with impressive stimuli-responsive interconversion have been obtained by taking advantage of the judiciously designed tridentate phosphine ligand Ltrans as the building block. Both UV light and temperature can be applied to trigger the structural conversions between trans-Au12 and trans-Au15. In addition, NMR, high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy have been employed to monitor the transformation process and decipher the mechanism of structural conversion. This work not only provides a paradigm to investigate photo-induced cluster-to-cluster transformation based on polydentate phosphine ligands but also offers a new direction for the construction of the stimuli-responsive materials.