Hydride-Mediated Controlled Growth of a Bimetallic (Pd@Au8)2+ Superatom to a Hydride-Doped (HPd@Au10)3+ Superatom

A hydride (H-)-doped bimetallic superatom (HPdAu8)(+) was produced by reacting BH4- with an oblate (PdAu8)(2+) superatom protected by PPh3. The H atom in (HPdAu8)(+) survived during the sequential addition of Au(I)Cl to form an (HPdAu10)(3+) superatom, in sharp contrast to the proton release from a H-doped pure gold superatom (HAu9)(2+) in the growth process to (Au-11)(3+). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and density functional theory calculations on (HPdAu10)(3+) showed that the interstitially doped H atom induced a notable deformation of the core.