Preparation of Gold Clusters

To date, several methods have been developed to synthesize gold clusters with different sizes and even with a specific number of gold atoms, including chemical reduction, physical vapor deposition, electrical reduction, and so on. Among these methods, chemical reduction method has been the most frequently studied. 

Protecting ligands Cold clusters Cold precursors/ligands Reducing resents Solvents References 

Phosphorus AUg(PPh3)7(N03)j PPh3AuN03/PPh3 NaBH4 Dichloromethane [21] 

Amide 1.1 and 1.3 nm HAuCl4/poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) NaBH4 Water [39, 40[ 

---

Several synthetic methods have been employed in the preparation of gold clusters compounds. 

Gas-soUd catalytic reaction is the most common chemical process in the industry. However, owing to the limitation of this book, only three chapters were devoted to this theme. Chapter 11 describes the preparation of gold clusters and its application on the solid-gas biphasic catalytic reaction. The clarification of catalytic mechanism and reactive sites is very important for designing more efficient catalysts. So the identification of binding and reactive sites in metal cluster catalysis through imaging technique, kinetic study, and other methods are introduced in Chapter 9. To reflect the importance of theoretical calculation on catalysis, the molecular kinetics of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction by computational chemistry is introduced in Chapter 16. 

---