Polycluster concept

It needs to be established whether the concept and model developed are adequate to real objects. This question is answered to some extent by the experimental data given in Sects. 6.3 and 6.5. We also discuss briefly some other structure models of metallic glasses to establish the connection between them and the polycluster model (6.4.5). 

In a kind of inversion of this concept, hydrocarbons can also serve as platforms for polycluster systems the tri- and tetrametallic complexes shown in Chart 8 (A and B) were recently prepared in our laboratory and characterized via X-ray crystallography at the University of Heidelberg (59). Compounds of this type are prototypes for extended oligomeric and polymeric networks such as that proposed in Chart 8(C), that are expected to exhibit extensive electron-delocalization between the metal centers (60). Systems of this kind, together with alkynyl-and phenyl-linked polyhedra, and multidecker sandwich-based arrays, are current targets of our research (61). 

---