• Sun, J.; Kochovski, Z.; Zhang, W.-Y.; Kirmse, H.; Lu, Y.; Antonietti, M.; Yuan, J.: A General Synthetic Route Towards Highly Dispersed Metal Clusters Enabled by Polyionic liquids. Journal of the American Chemical Society 139 (2017), p. 8971-8976

10.1021/jacs.7b03357
Open Access Version

Abstract:
The ability to synthesize a broad spectrum of metal clusters (MCs) with their size controllable on a subnanometer scale presents an enticing prospect for exploring nanosize-dependent properties. Here we report an innovative design of a capping agent from a polytriazolium poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) in a vesicular form in solution that allows for crafting a variety of MCs including transition metals, noble metals, and their bimetallic alloy with precisely controlled sizes (∼1 nm) and record-high catalytic performance. The ultrastrong stabilization power is a result of an unusual synergy between the conventional binding sites in the heterocyclic cations in PIL and an in situ generated polycarbene structure induced simultaneously to the reduction reaction.