Superatoms and their assemblies based on alkali and super-alkali motifs

It is shown that chosen stable clusters can mimic the chemical behavior of atoms in the periodic table and hence can be regarded as superatoms forming a third dimension of the periodic table. The review discusses the developments leading to the superatom concept and our recent studies on superhalog ens and superalkalis. It is shown that molecules and assemblies with novel electronic and chemical features can be synthesized by assembling superhalogens with alkalis and superalkalis. The paper reviews these developments and presents a summary and future prospects.