[Cu 32 (H) 20 {S 2 P(O i Pr) 2 } 12 ]: The Largest Number of Hydrides Recorded in a Molecular Nanocluster by Neutron Diffraction
An air- and moisture-stable nanoscale polyhydrido copper cluster [Cu 32 (H) 20 {S 2 P(O i Pr) 2 } 12 ] (1 H ) was synthesized and structurally characterized. The molecular structure of 1 H exhibits a hexacapped pseudo-rhombohedral core of 14 Cu atoms sandwiched between two nestlike triangular cupola fragments of (2x9) Cu atoms in an elongated triangular gyrobicupola polyhedron. The discrete Cu 32 cluster is stabilized by 12 dithiophosphate ligands and a record number of 20 hydride ligands, which were found by high-resolution neutron diffraction to exhibit tri-, tetra-, and pentacoordinated hydrides in capping and interstitial modes. We conclude that this result was further supported by a density functional theory investigation on the simplified model [Cu 32 (H) 20 (S 2 PH 2 ) 12 ].