Aromatic Copper Hydride Cages

Copper clusters are nanoscale materials comprised of a metal core or frame enclosed by a mantle of stabilizing ligands; their exploration offers progress in diverse fields as medicine, electronics, and fundamental chemistry as catalysts, reducing agents, corrosion inhibitors, and petroleum sweeteners. When stabilized with dithiocarbamate (DTC) ligands (L), copper clusters show a propensity for reversible hydrogen uptake and a remarkable versatility in size and shape as demonstrated by the facile substitution of the protecting groups and multitude of species attainable. The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the versatility of the Cu-DTC system by the novel use of an aromatic dibenzyl DTC ligand (L’) to generate clusters of previously known composition (i.e. Cu8HL’6 PF6). As demonstrated herein, the new materials are air stable and amenable to characterization by high resolution mass spectrometry, NMR spectrometry, powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Ultraviolet-Cisible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry (ICP). These hydrogen- rich caged cluster materials have potential applications as hydrogen storage sponges to great benefit to material science, energy, and other chemical fields.