Gold nanoclusters with optically pure bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands have been successfully synthesized and published in Chemistry of Materials. In this study, optically pure chiral NHC ligands were designed by using inexpensive tartaric acid, and nanoclusters consisting of 13 gold atoms were synthesized using these ligands.  The resulting nanoclusters were shown to catalyze CO2 reduction by electrochemical methods.

Congratulations to Dr. Albright, Dr. Jacob, and Dr. Yi!

This research was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Tsukuda, Assistant Prof. Takano (University of Tokyo), Prof. Hakkinen (University of Jyvaskyla, Finland), and Prof. Mimura (Nagoya University).

doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c02288