The Structure and Optical Properties of the [Au18(SR)14] Nanocluster

Abstract Decreasing the core size is one of the best ways to study the evolution from Au I complexes into Au nanoclusters. Toward this goal, we successfully synthesized the [Au 18 (SC 6 H 11 ) 14 ] nanocluster using the [Au 18 (SG) 14 ] (SG= L ‐glutathione) nanocluster as the starting material to react with cyclohexylthiol, and determined the X‐ray structure of the cyclohexylthiol‐protected [Au 18 (C 6 H 11 S) 14 ] nanocluster. The [Au 18 (SR) 14 ] cluster has a Au 9 bi‐octahedral kernel (or inner core). This Au 9 inner core is built by two octahedral Au 6 cores sharing one triangular face. One transitional gold atom is found in the Au 9 core, which can also be considered as part of the Au 4 (SR) 5 staple motif. These findings offer new insight in terms of understanding the evolution from [Au I (SR)] complexes into Au nanoclusters.