Metal chalcogenide nanoclusters with 'tailored' surfaces via 'designer' silylated chalcogen reagents

Silylated chalcogen reagents are proven entry points for the preparation of ligand-stabilized, nanometre-sized metal-chalcogen clusters. More recently, these reagents have been developed to incorporate specific functionalities onto the surfaces of nanoclusters. The group 11 metals Cu and Ag in particular yield a wealth of structural types, the features for which are dependent on the nature of the surface chalcogenolate ligands. The content of this review focuses on complexes that have been structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies and illustrates the ease by which these frameworks can be assembled.